The Truchsessian Gallery in London and the English art market around 1800

The art&market exhibition at the General State Archive Karlsruhe sheds light on the fascinating history of the modern art market. It offers fascinating insights not only into the life of a noble collector around 1800 and the development of professional exhibition practices, but also into the commercialization of works of art.

art&market accompanies the collector Count Joseph Truchsess von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (1748-1813) on his sales trip to Great Britain. Originally assembled in Cologne and Strasbourg in the 1780s, his collection of over 1,000 paintings made its way to London via Wurzach and Vienna in 1803 during the turmoil of the revolutionary period: there it was to form the basis of an English National Gallery yet to be established.

In the 18th century, the global metropolis of London had accumulated enormous individual purchasing power through its flourishing trade and developed a lively market for consumer goods, which was to be specifically exploited for this project. The sale of the so-called Truchsessian Picture Gallery reveals a distinct cultural infrastructure with large auction houses and commercial galleries. The market mechanisms of the time and the particular preferences of English collectors can be clearly understood. art&market thus offers deep insights into the artistic reception of the Truchsessen collection (as seen, for instance, by William Blake) and sales activity on the London art market.

A comprehensive academic essay on this topic will be published in the Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 172 (2024).

The estate of Count Joseph Truchsess von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (1748-1813) is now housed in the Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe and can be viewed online here.

Citation: Nikolas Maisch, art&market, in: art&market. The Truchsessen Gallery in London and the English art market around 1800, URL: [...], as of June 2, 2025.