The Walpole Society, named after Horace Walpole, was formed in 1911 to promote the study of the history of British art.
From 1762 on, Walpole had published the first history of art in Britain, based on the manuscript notebooks of George Vertue, the most important source of information concerning British art before the mid-eighteenth century. One of the first goals of the Society was to publish these notebooks in their original form, which included much material that Walpole omitted.
The Society publishes an annual volume of studies written by its members and scholars around the world. The field of research includes paintings, drawings, prints, miniatures, sculpture and illuminated manuscripts as well as patronage, collecting and travel. The period covered is the whole of the history of British art, from the Middle Ages to the present.
Registered address
- c/o Department of Prints and Drawings, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG
See also English school of painting; art history
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Furia to God one day in seven allots;
The other six to scandal she devotes.
Satan, by false devotion never flammed,
Bets six to one, that Furia will be damned.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
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—Richard B. Stolley (20th century)