ii. The Gladwell Brothers

DONALD HAMILTON FRASER British, (1929-2009)

The Acrobat

Oil on Canvas 106 x 102 cms / 30” x 40”

A Pause to Reflect

Cathedrals to Art Creating a Firm Foundation

T.H.Gladwell, Gladwell Brothers Fine Art Gallery 20 & 21 Gracechurch Street (1834-1892)

At a time when there were no motor vehicles in London and all transport was on horseback, in horse drawn carriages or by foot, Thomas Henry Gladwell started his gallery in 1834 at 21 Gracechurch Street. Captured in Thomas Dibden’s charming watercolour which now resides in the City of London Guildhall Art Gallery, it was an imposing and elaborate five story building in the Gothic revival style. Just down from the Bank of England, the gallery took up the bottom three floors, with the top two floors being given over to accommodation for Thomas’ family.

Three large imposing windows on the ground floor were crammed full of prints of all types and when the passer-by looked up the windows on the upper floors were also full of row upon row of fine pictures.

A recessed doorway on the left of the windows led you up two steps through some heavy velvet curtains to the plush interior of the gallery where pictures were hung floor to ceiling in the manner of the annual Royal Academy Exhibition. Laid out over three floors of galleries, there were a wealth of treasures inside.

As the gallery progressed through the ages first as T.H. Gladwell – Fine Art Gallery, then as Gladwell Brothers – Cittie of London Fyne Artte Galleries, and then as The City of London Fine Art Gallery – Messr’s Gladwell Brothers, many fine preview evenings and exhibitions were held there. The Gladwell Brothers and their father before them had a fine sense of the theatrical and what was required to publicise their exhibitions.

Their invitations, etched often by the leading etchers of the day with whom they worked, such as H. Gillard Glindoni and Stanley Berkley, created a sense of fun and were suggestive of the lifestyle and glamour in which they wanted you to buy. Elegant figures arriving in sedan chairs or in horse drawn carriages, dressed in their finery, being welcomed by a bewigged doorman in a tricorne hat, created an impression that the Gladwell Brothers wanted to enhance.

A particular favourite of mine is of a bowler hatted rider being thrown from his horse through the windows of their exhibition of sporting subjects. Quite outrageous for the time, it must have created quite the stir when it landed on their customers’ doormats. Who wouldn’t want to attend that exhibition? Masters of publicity they certainly were!

Three invitations to exhibitions at Gladwell Brothers - Ye Cittie of London Fyne Artte Galleries - late 1800s Adverts, picture labels and business cards from Gracechurch Street

Gladwell & Company 70 & 71 Cheapside ‘Gladwell’s Corner’ (1892-1928)

Harry Gladwell had started his own branch of the firm at 1, Fenchurch Street, as was the normal format with each of the next generation after they had served their apprenticeships in the business. Harry soon found a beautiful new premises which was ideal for a gallery and in 1892, he moved the business to the corner of Queen Street and Cheapside, at what would soon become known as ‘Gladwell’s Corner’.

Cheapside was one of the busiest throughfares in London and had remained so for generations, and as the City became wealthier and continued to grow, as did Harry’s clientele. The gallery was just up the road from the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange and the passing trade was immense.

The gallery specialised in prints, engravings and fine works of art, and Harry was a master at promotion and a natural salesman. The gallery stocked around fiftythousand different prints all contained in beautiful folios and arranged neatly in drawers or hung from floor to ceiling on the gallery’s three levels. Each new addition would gather much attention in the wrap around corner windows drawing in the clients to enquire about them. Clients would spend many hours browsing through the many pictures and being assisted by a team of gallery assistants brilliantly led by Mr. Ward, Harry’s gallery manager. Very rarely did anyone leave empty-handed.

Harry kept his manufactory at Southampton Row very busy and with his other branches he was selling vast quantities of prints and engravings. Cheapside was the headquarters of the business ever since his uncle, the last of the three Gladwell brothers, had passed away and the Gracechurch Street address had to be closed. It remained so throughout Harry’s life and continued going for five years after he retired in 1923 when it was run by Algernon and Ernest, Harry’s sons, and Mr. Ward.

Gladwell’s Corner on Cheapside was finally closed in 1928 when the building was redeveloped heralding the end of a glorious era for the company led by the brilliant Harry Gladwell.

Picture labels and a notecard from Cheapside A letter in 1923 to a frame moulding makers in Cologne - Messrs Koeneman & Co, ordering 40,000 feet of moulding