BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
accepted, and the Exhibition (opened in the June of that year) was entrusted to him to carry out.
In 1866 he aided the late Earl of Derby in giving effect to his Lordship's idea of a Loan Exhibition of Portraits of British Celebrities, extending from the earliest known pictures to the present time. The series was so ample that the Exhibition continued during three seasons.
When the Royal Academy, in the winter of 1869, determined, in the best interests of art, to continue the Exhibition of the works of deceased masters, which had lapsed with the British Institution, the Council, aware of Mr. Redgrave's administrative abilities, requested him to act as secretary to the committee formed to carry out their intentions. The first exhibition was a decided success, and he continued to fulfil the office until the appointment of a lay secretary to the general body rendered his further assistance unnecessary. All this time he was gathering materials for the 'Dictionary of Painters, Sculptors, Architects, and Engravers,' completed and published in 1874. During that year the Department of Science and Art requested him to compile a catalogue of the 'Historical Collection of British Paintings in Water-Colours,' with a short introductory preface embodying the history and progress of the art. On this work he was engaged till his lamented death, on the 20th March, 1876, and it was published towards the end of that year. Mr. Redgrave married in 1839, but lost his wife after a long illness in 1845. She left two daughters who both died before him, the younger in 1856, and the elder in 1859.
A true-hearted brother and friend, his kindly and modest nature endeared him to all who knew him, by whom his loss will long be felt. It is hoped that this short memoir will suffice to show how diligently he served the public during a life of useful labour.
