Bendor Grosvenor

Bendor Gerard Robert Grosvenor (born 27 November 1977) is a British art historian, writer and former art dealer. He is known for discovering a number of important lost artworks by Old Master artists, including Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Lorrain and Peter Brueghel the Younger.^[1] As a dealer he specialised in Old Masters, with a particular interest in Anthony van Dyck.

Bendor Grosvenor
Bendor Grosvenor
Born	Bendor Gerard Robert Grosvenor (1977-11-27) 27 November 1977 (age 45)
Nationality	British & Swiss
Education	Harrow School
Alma mater	University of East Anglia Pembroke College, Cambridge
Occupations	Art historian Television presenter
Website	www.arthistorynews.com

From 2011 to 2016 he carried out specialist research for, and appeared in, the BBC1 art programme Fake or Fortune?.^[2] He now presents, with Emma Dabiri (Jacky Klein in Series 1), the BBC4 series Britain's Lost Masterpieces,^[3] which began in 2016.^[4]

Life and work

 

Simon Rollo Gillespie working on Lost portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, with Bendor Grosvenor in the background

Grosvenor was born on 27 November 1977 in London. His parents are Hon. Richard Alexander Grosvenor and Gabriella Grosvenor. He was educated at Harrow School before attending the University of East Anglia for his BA Hons. He then received an MPhil from Pembroke College, Cambridge and a DPhil from the University of East Anglia.^[5] His PhD thesis was entitled "The Politics of Foreign Policy: Lord Derby and the Eastern Crisis, 1875-8".^[6] Before becoming an art historian he worked in politics as an adviser, first to the Labour MP Tony Banks, Lord Stratford, then to the Conservative MP Hugo Swire.

His first major art discovery was a mis-catalogued portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence being sold at a London auction in 2003 as a work by Lawrence's pupil George Henry Harlow.^[7] From 2005 until 2014, he worked for Philip Mould Ltd,^[6] where he made a number of significant art historical discoveries, including lost works by artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and Sir Anthony van Dyck, on whom he is an acknowledged specialist.^[6] In 2016 he sold a newly identified portrait by Joan Carlile, the first professional British female artist, to the Tate gallery.^[8]

In 2017, he discovered the "lost portrait" of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham at Pollok House, Glasgow, Scotland. The painting was thought to be a copy of a painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens that had been lost for nearly 400 years, but after restoration was found to be the original by Rubens.^[9]

Grosvenor has been a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, and the Lord Chancellor's Forum for Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research.^[10] He also works as a journalist and writer, and presents programmes for BBC2's The Culture Show.

He was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as an adult and has advocated improved accessibility at museums.^[11] In 2015, he married Ishbel Hall and he has one daughter and two step-sons.^[5]

Jacobite portraiture

Grosvenor has made a special study of Jacobite portraiture. In 2009 he proved the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's iconic portrait of Charles Edward Stuart by Maurice Quentin de La Tour was in fact a portrait of Charles' brother Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York.^[12]

In 2013 he discovered the lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart by Scottish artist Allan Ramsay at Gosford House, the home of the Earl of Wemyss near Edinburgh.^[13] This portrait is now on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and has taken the place of the La Tour pastel as the definitive portrait of Charles.^[14]

Ancestry

The name Bendor is derived from the Grosvenor family's medieval heraldic shield, a bend or, a golden bend (diagonal stripe), which they used until 1389, when it was claimed instead by the Scrope family in the case Scrope v Grosvenor. The 2nd Duke of Westminster was nicknamed "Bendor".

Grosvenor is a grandson of Robert Grosvenor, 5th Baron Ebury,^[15] and fifth cousin of Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster.^[16] He is also of Swiss and Dutch heritage.^[17] His father's eldest half-brother is Francis Grosvenor, 8th Earl of Wilton.^[18]

Ancestors of Bendor Grosvenor

16. Robert Grosvenor, 2nd Baron Ebury 8. Francis Egerton Grosvenor, 4th Baron Ebury 17. Emilie Beaujolais White 4. Robert Grosvenor, 5th Baron Ebury 18. John Glasson 9. Mary Adela Glasson 19. Mary Phillips 2. Richard Alexander Grosvenor 20. John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston 10. John Yarde-Buller, 3rd Baron Churston 21. Barbara Yelverton 5. Denise Margaret Yarde-Buller 22. Alfred John Smither 11. Jessie Smither 23. Jessicah Henrietta Pococke 1. Bendor Grosvenor 12. Joseph Speckert 6. Xavier Speckert 13. Mary Kälin 3. Gabriella Speckert 28. Johannes Arnoldus Jurgens 14. Gerardus Leonardus Stephanus Jurgens 29. Josina Jansen 7. Miriam Victoria Phyllis Jurgens 30. Luciano Carreras 15. Miriam Margherita Amalia Carreras 31. Margaret Gatey

Publications

• Starkey, David (2007). Grosvenor, Bendor (ed.). Lost Faces: Identity and discovery in Tudor royal portraiture. Philip Mould Ltd. OCLC 122357300.
• Finding Van Dyck. Newly Discovered and Rarely Seen Works by Van Dyck and His Followers. Philip Mould Ltd. 2009.
• Grosvenor, Bendor; Hicks, Geoffrey (2009). Crap MPs: The 40 Worst Members of Parliament in History. London: The Friday Project. ISBN 9780007348688.
• Hicks, Geoff; Charmley, John; Grosvenor, Bendor, eds. (2012). Documents on Conservative Foreign Policy, 1852-1878. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107035928.
• Rutherford, Emma; Grosvenor, Bendor, eds. (2013). Warts and All: the Portrait Miniatures of Samuel Cooper. Philip Mould Ltd. ISBN 9780992726409.

Filmography

• Britain's Lost Masterpieces (2016)
• Fake or Fortune? (2011-2016)
• The Lost Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Culture Show Special (2014)
• The Culture Show - Venice: A Tale of Two Cities (2013)

References

1. "Brueghels Return to the Fold". The Times. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
2. "Fake or Fortune?". BBC One. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
3. "Britain's Lost Masterpieces". BBC One. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
4. "Arthistorynews". Twitter. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
5. "Grosvenor, Dr Bendor Gerard Robert, (born 27 Nov. 1977), art historian; writer". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2017. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U289038. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
6. . Philip Mould & Company. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
7. "Bendor Grosvenor".
8. "Typical!". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
9. Slawson, Nicola (24 September 2017). "Lost Rubens portrait of James I's 'lover' is rediscovered in Glasgow". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
10. "Bendor Grosvenor -". CODART.
11. Grosvenor, Bendor (3 March 2021). "'Autism made me an art historian. But museums must do more to welcome disabled and neurodiverse communities'". The Art Newspaper.
12. "Gallery admits portrait isn't Bonnie Prince Charlie". The Scotsman. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
13. "Lost Bonnie Prince Charlie portrait found in Scotland". BBC News. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
14. "Historic lost portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie secured by the National Portrait Gallery". The Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
15. "My theatrical clash with the copyright commissars". The Conservative Woman. 29 July 2018.
16. "The 'fake aristo'? - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor". www.arthistorynews.com.
17. "Dr Bendor Grosvenor – Old Masters expert and television presenter". 31 July 2017.
18. Mosley, Charles (editor). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Volume 3, page 4208.

External links

• Art History News, run by Bendor Grosvenor
• Bendor Grosvenor on Twitter  
• Bendor Grosvenor at IMDb