Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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Louis Huth

Nationality: British
Date of birth: 1821
Place of birth: Finsbury
Date of death: 12 February 1905
Category: collector

Identity:

Louis Huth, collector, was the son of Frederick Huth, a German who emigrated to England from Spain in 1809 and established the family merchant house. His elder brother Charles Frederick Huth (1806-1895) was also a collector, and another brother Henry was a noted bibliophile. He married Helen Rose Huth (1837-1924), née Ogilvy.

Life:

Huth was Director of The London Assurance for Fire, Life and Marine Assurance.

Huth was a collector and patron of Aesthetic movement artists, including Watts and Whistler. Between 1865-1869 he commissioned Matthew Digby Wyatt to design Possingworth Manor, Cross in Hand, Sussex. He was also a member of the Fine Arts Club.

He owned Symphony in White, No. 3 y061, Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea y105 and commissioned Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth y125. Three of Whistler's Venice pastels were owned by him at some point: The Bridge; flesh colour and brown m0759, The Storm - Sunset m0808 and Fishing Boats m0819. His collection fetched over £50,000 at Christie's on 20 May 1905.

Bibliography:

Macleod, Dianne Sachko, Art and the Victorian Middle Class: Money and the Making of Cultural Identity, Cambridge, 1996 , p. 432. Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 .