The Gustav Pope Research Initiative
The Gustav Pope Research Initiative is a non-profit academic project on art history, with special interest in lesser known artists such as Gustav Pope.
Our main objective is to publish his first catalogue raisonné in the near future, increasing and sharing knowledge about this Victorian-era creator of inspiring masterpieces. Gustav Pope’s name is familiar to Victorian art collectors, institutions that keep his paintings, auction houses, and galleries. But there is no reliable source of information about his life and work, limiting the assessment of any piece beyond the visible. Our mission is to recover and restore this master painter’s name into the art literature with the deserved appreciation.
Our specific goal at this moment is to collect images of his drawings, paintings, photographs, related documents, and letters that help us build a more complete survey of the painter’s life and work. We need public participation because Gustav Pope’s paintings are kept mainly in private collections. Current or former owners of his pictures could contribute with images and information to enrich our catalog.
If you contribute images of your artwork or any related document, we will reciprocate by giving you a report summarizing the data we may have about your piece. We have a robust database with facts, dates, titles, techniques, and dimensions of his creations. Your name and email address will remain confidential, or if you prefer, we will include the appropriate courtesy credits accompanying your images. The images will never be used for profit, only for academic research. In the event of a future publication, we are obliged to seek your consent.
The Gustav Pope Research Initiative
Our Work
We are open to contributions in the form of images and information. We would love to hear from you if you have:
•Images of artwork by Pope
•Etchings or engravings after his work
•Personal letters or mentions by third persons
•Photographs
•Any other related document or mention
What we have for you
If you contribute images of your artwork or any related document, we will reciprocate by giving you a report summarizing the data we may have about your piece. We have a robust database with facts, dates, titles, techniques, and dimensions of Pope’s creations. Your name and email address will remain confidential, or if you prefer, we will include the appropriate courtesy credits accompanying your images.
How we will use it
Images of Gustav Pope’s unknown works are useful for research, analysis, and study of the artistic style and subject matter. The pictures will not be publicly shared or published without your consent. In case we have your consent for publication, you can choose to remain anonymous or to receive courtesy credit for the images to your name or institution.
Unsure if it is by Gustav Pope?
Do you have any Victorian artwork without a visible signature? or perhaps signed “G. Pope” or with a monogram “GP” and are unsure if it is by Gustav Pope? We can take a look.
Imitations or Fakes?
Do you have an artwork in the style of, circle of, manner of, or bearing a signature by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Frederic Leighton, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James Sant, and other Victorian painters?
•It is highly possible that your piece is not a “fake” in the sense that it was not made for deception. Many of those artworks were painted by less famous artists (such as Gustav Pope), and signatures were added, altered, or erased later in time. We can help you identify if this is the case.
•The twilight of the Victorian era brought a radical change in tastes; consequently, Victorian art became undervalued or neglected. Then, thirsty-for-profit vendors disguised many original paintings with more famous signatures, overwriting “G. Pope” with “Rossetti,” “Millais,” or “Alma-Tadema.” This unfortunate practice affected Gustav Pope’s legacy in volume and quality, making his output appear scarce and inconsistent.
•If this is your case, send us images of your artwork. We can help identify the real artists behind your piece.
Send pictures of your artwork
That will help us in our mission of recovering and restoring this master painter’s name into the art literature with deserved appreciation. Email: info@gustavpope.org
Gustav Pope, The Artist
Gustav Pope was a brilliant artist of visual poetry and sharp philosophies. He was trained in the academy but stood imaginative; he was profound, sensible, and surprisingly modern-minded. Unfortunately for art criticism, Pope suffered the fate of most Victorian artists: the 1900s and its dramatic shift in tastes downgraded their work to expendable sentimentalism for most of the century.
His career flourished between 1852 and 1896, creating artworks of extreme beauty, full of innovations and simplicity in composition. After his migration from Austria, he entered the country’s artistic scene through the auspiciously called British Institution in 1852. However, Pope reserved some of his best productions for the Royal Academy, exhibiting there for the first time in 1854 and frequently appearing in the catalog until 1895. He also exhibited at the Society of British Artists, the Dudley, and the French Gallery in London. Among his most important works in institutions and public collections are:
The Daughters of King Lear (1875-76) Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico
The Music Room (ca.1861-63). York Castle Museum, York, England
The Portrait of Algernon Percy, 6th Duke of Northumberland. Alnwick Castle, England.
Gustav Pope’s name is familiar to Victorian art collectors, institutions that keep his paintings, auction houses, and galleries. But there is no reliable source of information about his life and work, limiting the assessment of any piece beyond the visible. Most definitively, his career deserves study. For that reason, the Gustav Pope Research Project aims to build his graphic catalog (catalogue raisonné), cherish his legacy and foster the diffusion of knowledge about his life and works.
Contribute Images of your artwork by Pope to the project.
Email: info@gustavpope.org
Contact us
Please send us your images of artwork by G. Pope, comments, and questions you may have to:
info@gustavpope.com
Your message has been sent
Stay in the know
Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest stories about Gustav Pope in your inbox.
Gustav Pope: The enigmatic Victorian Painter 