Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/411

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Colnaghi
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Colnaghi

debates on the Anglican communion. Subsequently he assisted Dr. Randall Davidson, archbishop of Canterbury, in drafting the encyclical letter which was issued on behalf of the Lambeth Conference (7 Aug. 1908). The strain of his unceasing activities produced a serious breakdown in 1909, when lung and throat trouble developed. By the autumn of 1910 he recovered sufficiently to resume his episcopal visits, but fell ill shortly after at the British embassy, Constantinople, and died at sea on 22 March 1911 on his way to Smyrna; he was buried in St. John's Church, Smyrna. A memorial service was held at Lambeth Palace. Collins was married on 26 Jan. 1904 to Mary Brewin Sterland, who died on 15 July 1909 without issue. A posthumous volume, 'Hours of Insight and other Sermons,' appeared in 1912 with a preface by Dr. Randall Davidson, archbishop of Canterbury.

[A memoir of the bishop is being prepared by Canon A. J. Mason; The Times, 25 March 1911; Guardian, 31 March 1911; Truro Diocesan Magazine, April 1911; L. Creighton, Life of Mandell Creighton, 1904, vol. ii.; private information.]

G. S. W.


COLNAGHI, MARTIN HENRY (1821–1908), picture dealer and collector (who was christened Martino Enrico Luigi Gaetano), was eldest son of Martin Lewis Gaetano Colnaghi, printseller, of 23 Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, where he was born on 16 Nov. 1821; his mother's maiden name was Fanny Boyce Clarke. The original firm of Colnaghi was established by the grandfather, Paul Colnaghi [q. v.], about 1750, and was for many years carried on at 23 Cockspur Street by his sons, Dominic Paul Colnaghi [q. v.], Martin's uncle, and Martin's father. In 1826 the grandfather and uncle set up the new firm of Colnaghi, Son & Co. (afterwards known as P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.) in Pall Mall East (where it still exists). Martin's father remained in Cockspur Street, and traded at first as Colnaghi & Co., and from 1840 as Colnaghi & Puckle. In 1845 this business passed to Edward Puckle. In the interval, owing to an unfortunate speculation, Martin's father was gazetted bankrupt on 22 Aug. 1843; he died in Piccadilly in May 1851 (Gent. Mag.). The business misfortunes of the father thwarted young Martin's intention of entering the army, and his early manhood was a struggle. He was for two or three years the most active organiser of the system of railway advertising which was afterwards taken over by W. H. Smith, a small City stationer, who developed out of it the gigantic business of W. H. Smith & Son (The Times, 29 June 1908). About 1860 Colnaghi turned his attention to art, for which he had an hereditary taste. For some years he travelled as an expert and buyer for his uncle's firm of P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. (in which he was never a partner), then for Henry Graves, and then on his own account. He helped to form many important collections, notably that of Albert Levy (dispersed at Christie's in March 1876), and in later years the three existing collections (among others) of Mrs. Stephenson Clarke, Mr. Charles Crews, and Mr. William Asch.

In 1877 he took Flatou's Gallery at No. 11 Haymarket, and called it the Guardi Gallery in honour of two fine pictures by that master which he had purchased. Hitherto his business had been conducted from his private residence in Pimlico. His important purchases in the auction room date from 1875, when he gave 4100 guineas at the Bredel sale for F. Mieris's 'Enamoured Cavalier,' and shortly afterwards 4500 guineas at the Lucy sale for a classical subject by Jan Both. Colnaghi remained in the Haymarket until 1888, when he took over the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours (originally called the New Society of Painters in Water-Colours) at 53 Pall Mall, which he named the Marlborough Gallery At each place he held, at irregular intervals, exhibitions of ancient and modern pictures, including works by the Barbizon and other continental schools; in 1892 he held one of the embroideries of Madame Henriette Mankiewicz, and in 1895 he exhibited the colossal canvas (330 square feet) of 'The Triumph of Ariadne' by Hans Makart. This he had bought at Christie's (9 Feb. 1895) for the emperor of Austria, who conferred upon him the Austrian Goldene Verdienst Kreuz mit der Krone.

His remarkable knowledge of the old masters of every school was acquired not through study of books but by direct examination of pictures at home and abroad. His 'eye' for a picture rarely led him into an error. He was more particularly an authority on the Dutch and Flemish schools; he claimed to have had quite 100 works of Franz Hals through his hands at prices which varied from 5l. to 100l., long before the subsequent rise in values. Van Goyen was one of the many old masters he 'discovered,' and his last important public purchase at Christie's was