Wilson Online Reference
Tennant
Name
Sir Charles Tennant, 1st Bart, 1823-1906
Connection to Wilson
Collector
Biographical Details
Sir Charles Tennant 1st Bart was a Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal politician, grandson of the chemist and industrialist Charles Tennant. He was President of the United Alkali Company, Chairman of the Union Bank of Scotland and sat as M.P. for Glasgow (1879-1880), as well as Peebles and Selkirk (1880-1886). He was a Trustee of the National Gallery and patron of British painting. He owned a remarkable collection of important works by Wilson, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Constable, Turner and Bonington. This included P12 Caernarvon Castle (Detroit Institute of Arts) and P88 Syon House from Richmond Gardens - I (Bayerische Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, Munich). The collection was divided between Tennant's London houses, at Queen Anne's Gate and 40, Grosvenor Square, where it was regularly open to the public, and his home in Scotland, The Glen, near Innerleithen, Peebleshire. In 1896 C. Morland Agnew published a major catalogue: Catalogue of the Pictures forming the Collection of Sir Charles Tennant, Bart, of 40, Grosvenor Square and The Glen, Innerleithen.
Significant institutions
House of Commons
National Gallery