Louis Huth - Patronage of Artists and Collecting of Art

Patronage of Artists and Collecting of Art

Helen Huth was painted by Watts, probably shortly before her marriage, ‘looking like a mere girl’ in a painting (formerly in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) which has now disappeared, and he painted her again in a full-length portrait around 1857, two years after her wedding, a portrait that ‘enjoyed considerable status as part of the noted collection of modern art featuring the work of Watts and Whistler that the sitter and her husband formed after their marriage in 1855.’ Both Louis Huth and Helen Huth were depicted in magnificent marble portrait busts by a leading sculptor of the Victorian age, Alexander Munro, both busts exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860. Helen Huth was also painted by Watts in a head and shoulders portrait in the early 1860s. The importance of the Huths in Watt’s oeuvre of portraits cannot be under-estimated. Apart from four other women, Watts painted more portraits of Helen than any other – four in total – which, as Bryant noted, ‘sheds light on the interaction between sitter and portraitist.’ Next Helen Huth was painted by Whistler, in a painting entitled Arrangement in black, no. 2: portrait of Mrs Louis Huth, for which Huth paid 600 guineas. Painted in 1872-3, some 13 years after the bust by Munro was modelled, the portrait reflects Whistler’s admiration for Velásquez, an appreciation shared by Louis Huth. It was first shown publicly at Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, Pall Mall, London, 1874.

In addition to Whistler’s portrait of Mrs Huth, the Huth’s owned other works by Whistler, including the paintings Symphony in White, No. 3 (Barber institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham); and Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea (Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, United States), for which latter painting Huth paid 250 guineas; and the Venice watercolours The Bridge; flesh colour and brown (The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums); The Storm – Sunset (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University); and Fishing Boat (Cincinnati Art Museum). They also owned other paintings by Watts, including Daphne, (untraced), Galatea, Sir Galahad (sold Christie’s, London, 19 February 2003, lot 34), and Una and the Red Cross Knight (exhibited at the Royal Academy 1869, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight).

In February 1867, Whistler became a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, a club for artists and connoisseurs, founded circa June 1866, an institution of which Louis Huth was also a member. Indeed, he served on the Club’s committee. Whistler was expelled at a general meeting of the club on 13 December 1867, after a fight with his brother-in-law, Francis Seymour Haden, in a Parisian café, over the latter’s shoddy treatment of one of Whistler’s friends. Haden was also a member of the Club and in the aftermath of the fight campaigned for Whistler to be excluded from the club, having brought to its attention several alleged previous incidents of assault involving Whistler. Whistler refused to resign voluntarily and insisted on having the subject considered officially. After numerous accounts and interviews with relevant parties, including Huth, Whistler was expelled at the special meeting of the Club on 13 December. Huth, a strong supporter of Whistler, was sympathetic to his position, and after the expulsion clearly went on to commission or purchase a number of important works by Whistler.