Millionaire Shopping
The collections of Alfred Morrison, 1821-1897
Caroline Dakers (Editor)
Millionaire Shopping is the first full, detailed and original account of the huge and unstoppable collecting and patronage of Alfred Morrison (1821-1897) who was one of the most important but lesser-known Victorian collectors and patrons of the arts. Morrison was an obsessive; his collections evidence the extravagant deployment of limitless wealth. This wonderfully illustrated book includes images from public and private collections across the world, many of which have never previously been published. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field and dedicated to a particular aspect of Morrison’s collecting and patronage.
Morrison collected Old Masters and contemporary art, thousands of engraved portraits, autograph manuscripts, coins, medals and Imperial Chinese porcelain. His manuscript collection, the largest in private hands, included letters from Leonardo da Vinci and Jane Austen. He commissioned exquisite pieces from artists such as Charles Lepec and Plácido Zuloaga. He also commissioned furniture from Owen Jones, including the unique ‘Alhambra’ ceilings in his London house. On his Wiltshire estate, he bred prize-winning sheep and commissioned cottages from George Devey. Morrison’s collections were dispersed worldwide and the recent re-appraisal of his taste means that many of his prized objects are now worth millions of pounds.
List of figures
Contributors
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
Caroline Dakers
Part I: Context
2 Alfred Morrison (1821-1897) the making of a collector
Caroline Dakers
3 Alfred Morrison as a patron of architecture
Neil Burton
4 Alfred Morrison’s Old Master painting collection in context
Susanna Avery-Quash
Part II: Focus
5 Alfred Morrison at the 1862 London International Exhibition
Martin P. Levy
6 From Yuanmingyuan to Fonthill: buying Chinese ceramics in 1860s and the invention of provenance
Stacey Pierson
7 Alfred Morrison and his Summer Palace collection: sources and interpretations
Katrina Hill
8 Alfred Morrison’s furniture for Fonthill and 16 Carlton House Terrace: designed by Owen Jones and manufactured by Jackson & Graham
Clive Edwards
9 Stampeding cattle, absurd horses and high-bred sheep: Alfred Morrison as patron and collector of animal art
Alison E. Wright
10 ‘Fine old pictures’: on the trail of Alfred Morrison’s Old Masters
Emily Burns
11 Reconstructing Alfred Morrison’s sculpture collection
Alex Kader
12 Alfred Morrison’s print collection
David Alexander
13 Alfred Morrison’s autograph manuscripts
Philip S. Palmer and Daria Rose Foner
14 ‘Lost if you leave me’: Alfred Morrison, Placido Zuloaga, collecting, and not-knowing
Dror Elkvity
15 Richard Dadd and the Morrison family: a tale of two masterpieces
Nicholas Tromans
16 Mabel Morrison: patron and collector of lace and textiles
Molly-Claire Gillett
Part III: Dispersal
17 Alfred Morrison’s numismatic collection: recollecting the mid-twentieth century sales
Richard Falkiner and Caroline Dakers
18 Treasures from the Alfred Morrison collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide
19 The dispersal of Alfred Morrison’s collections, an overview
Caroline Dakers
Appendix: sales of Alfred Morrison’s collections by his widow and his descendants (possibly incomplete)
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781800089013
Publication date: 25 September 2025
PDF ISBN: 9781800089013
EPUB ISBN: 9781800089020
Hardback ISBN: 9781800088993
Paperback ISBN: 9781800089006
Caroline Dakers (Editor)
Caroline Dakers is Professor Emerita of Cultural History at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London). She is the editor of Fonthill Recovered: A Cultural History (2018) by UCL Press.
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