art&market – pictures for sale

by Nikolas Maisch

From showroom to commercial gallery

Despite prominent visitors and a well-thought-out advertising strategy, Count Joseph was unable to sell his collection as a whole by 1804. The plan for a collective takeover by English patrons and the state failed. A list of subscribers from 1804 shows that, despite all efforts, only a few Londoners had participated in the project. In the end, the count had no choice but to sell his paintings individually. Preserved gallery catalogs from those years provide insight into the price development of the paintings. They list estimated values from Vienna, converted into English currency. In the London gallery, the prices for individual sales had to be reduced significantly for time and financial reasons.

A Gallery of Fakes?

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), a well-known British portrait painter, later curator of the National Gallery (founded in 1824) and long-time member of the Royal Academy, also visited the Truchsessian Gallery. Unlike William Blake, however, he was less than enthusiastic about the collection. After his visit in August 1803, he expressed his suspicion that many of the works on display were not originals, but copies and forgeries. Count Joseph had always stated the value of his collection at an estimated price of 1.5 million guilders (approx. £150,000). However, he reduced the subscription price in England to £65,000. After his visit, Sir Thomas Lawrence estimated the actual value at only £2,000. His harsh verdict was:

“Many, perhaps most, of Truchsess' supposed masterpieces are fakes.”

As a member of the Royal Academy, Lawrence was very influential in London – his opinion carried weight. At the same time, as a portrait painter, he had close ties to the English aristocracy. The success of the subscription and individual sales from 1804 onwards was particularly dependent on their interest in purchasing. His criticism therefore caused lasting damage to the gallery's reputation and is likely to have had a negative impact on many potential customers, with the result that only a few works were sold. From today's perspective, there are some indications that Lawrence's assessment may well have been correct. One example is a portrait of Louis XIV from the count's collection, which was attributed to the French painter Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659–1743). His portraits of the Sun King were already famous during his lifetime and were frequently copied in the 18th century. None of today's originals can be traced back to the count's collection, which suggests that he only owned a copy.

A fateful agreement

Count Joseph was already under financial pressure in the 1790s. Fleeing political unrest, travel expenses, and numerous art purchases had taken their toll. In order to be able to afford his ambitious sales project in London, he took out another loan after his first trip to England in 1802. The Viennese banking house Fries & Co. covered the costs of transporting over 900 paintings to England and setting up the temporary gallery building. However, the loan agreement contained a momentous clause: if the count did not repay a certain portion of the sum by the beginning of 1805, his entire collection would automatically become the property of the bank, which is what actually happened after the failures in London that same year. After losing an appeal in court, the collection was transferred to the Vienna bank. In 1806, the new owner of the collection finally organized an auction to sell the works.

Continue reading here: On the trail of the pictures

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