French artists and the Meyrick armoury

The visitors' book for the armory of Dr Samuel Rush Meyrick (Wallace Collection library) contains much of interest to scholars of French and British art in the early 19th century. This slim 65-page volume contains almost 1,200 names covering the period 1820 to 1830. Unfortunately, only a few of the entries are dated. In the 1820s, over 50 British artists visited the collection, including many of the leading historical painters of the time. Of the dozen or so French painters who visited, so far it has not been possible to trace more than a few of their works that incorporate studies made from Meyrick's collection. More rewarding is the biographical light the book sheds—in several cases scholars have not only been unaware until now that these artists saw the Meyrick armory, but even that they were in England at the time.