OBITUARY -The Times Friday May 9, 1913

We regret to hear that Sir Coutts Lindsay, the artist and founder of the Grosvenor Gallery died on Wednesday aged 89.

Sir Coutts Lindsay of Balcerris, second baronet was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General James Lindsay, (grandson of fifth Earl of Balcarris) and of the eldest daughter of Sir Coutts Trotter, first Baronet. He was born on February 2, 1824, and in 1837 succeeded his maternal grandfather in the Baronetcy by special remainder, retaining his own surname. By profession Sir Coutts was in his earlier years a soldier. His regiment was the Grenadier Guards, in which he attained the rank of Captain. He was also a Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the First Regiment of the Italian Legion during the Crimean War, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixth Battalion Black Watch.

It was not, however, as a soldier but as an artist and art lover that Sir Coutts was best known. When still a young man he went to live in Rome, where he became an intimate friend of John Gibson, the sculptor. Between the years 1862 and 1875 he exhibited ten pictures at the Royal Academy, mainly portraits, and including a portrait of the fifth Earl Somers; and his work was also seen  in the Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and the Grosvenor Gallery. His first Royal Academy picture in 1862, a portrait of his mother was highly praised in these columns as possessing a calm dignity and simplicity “rare in contemporary portraits, and as recalling the work of the Venetian or nobler Flemish schools. Perhaps the best known of his pictures is “The Good Shepherd;”  he decorated the hall of Dorchester-house, Park-lane, with frescoes, all of which he designed and some of which he painted. The occasion which brought Sir Coutts prominently before the public was the opening of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877. The gallery, which he was principally responsible for building, was designed not as a rival to the Royal Academy, but in the first case as a supplement to it, and in the second as a home for schools of painting out of sympathy with the aims and organization of Burlington House. The opening exhibition held in the spring of 1877, was not the sensation of the moment, but one of considerable importance in the history of English painting. It included many famous pictures; Watts “Love and Death, and “Portrait of Mrs Percy Wyndham,” and works by Edward Burne-Jones (who was first introduced to the general public), including “ Merlin, Days of Creation, Mirror of Venus,” Three by Albert Moore, four by Holman Hunt, and seven Whistlers, including the portrait of Sir Henry Irving. Discussion ran high; ridicule was heaped on the exhibition, and answered by the most fervent admiration. Now that its contents can be regarded calmly, it is admitted on all hands that Sir Coutts Lindsay showed both courage and wisdom in the selection of artists he invited to contribute, and of the pictures he hung. Throughout its brief but glorious career the Grosvenor Gallery had the support of many of the most famous artists of the day. Academicians were not wanting for Alma-Tadema, G F Watts, and Albert Moore (WRONG!! PR), were only three among the frequent exhibitors. Whistler sent pictures to all or most of the exhibitions; all the great Nocturnes were seen there, as well as the “Valparaiso,” and the “Connie Gilchrist.” The opening day each year was one of the great social functions of the spring.

For ten years this remarkable enterprise was carried on by Sir Coutts Lindsay, with the assistance of Charles Halle (1846-1919), and Comyns Carr (1849-1916). Then, acting under advice received from outside, Sir Coutts tried to enlarge its operations, and made uses of the gallery which, as the event proved, were incompatible with the dignity of art. The story goes that at an evening party there, a picture by a living artist was concealed by a sign “Ices 6d” or some such vulgar announcement. The result was that Mr Halle and Mr Carr severed their connection with the gallery, and founded the New Gallery, to which some of the most important and characteristic exhibitors of the Grosvenor went over. But the New Gallery never achieved the social and artistic success of its predecessor. The Grosvenor Gallery had done its work; though Sir Coutts carried on for a time with other assistance, its great days were over.

Besides painting and managing his gallery, Sir Coutts Lindsay made occasional forays into the art of literature, being the author of two historical plays “Alfred” and “Edward The Black Prince.” He was a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Fife, and a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. In later life he lived much abroad, especially in Italy. Sir Coutts was the brother of the late Lord Wantage; of the late Countess of Crawford, grandmother of the present peer; of the late Mrs R S Holford of Westonbirt. In 1864 he married a daughter of Mr Henry Fitzroy and Hannah Mayer Rothschild-aunt of Lord Rothschild - Lady (Blanche) Lindsay who was herself an artist, but was more widely known as a poet. She died in August 1912. There is no heir to the Baronetcy. There are two daughters one of whom is married to the Rev T S Henrey, vicar of St George’s, Old Brentford.

My Comments

This obituary is, naturally very much of its time. It does not really give any insight into the character of the man. In some ways Lindsay was typical of his time and class. Socially out of the top drawer, and initially a Grenadier Guards officer. After that the situation changed, and his devotion to art became the primary focus of his life.

The Grosvenor Gallery was the great creation of the Lindsays, both husband and wife, and the obituary does not recognise the major contribution made by Lady Blanche. She was involved both with the creation of the gallery, and her Rothschild financial resources played a considerable role in its financial backing. The Lindsays separated in the late 1880s due, it is said to Sir Coutts’ eye for the ladies. It was this that lead to the closure of the gallery. The obituary makes no mention of this-perhaps it was not for ordinary mortals to know.

The gallery was a great social as well as an artistic success. Society figures, including the Prince and Princess of Wales attended its evening parties. It must be remembered, however, that Sir Coutts rendered a great service to a number of artists, and to the artistic public. Burne-Jones was brought to the public attention at the gallery, and became the leading artist of the time virtually overnight. Albert Moore, who had been abysmally treated by the Royal Academy, was able to display his subtly coloured, integrated, and fastidiously painted works at the gallery, where they were hung with the sensitivity and taste that showed them to maximum advantage. Whistler, never the easiest of men to please, used the gallery as his main showpiece, and like his friend Albert Moore, his pictures were vastly better displayed than they would ever have been at the Royal Academy.

In its short life the Grosvenor Gallery changed the English art world vastly for the better. For this Sir Coutts Lindsay was largely responsible.  

PHR 28 October 2004.