William Beckford, patron of Goldsmiths

Timothy Schroder, curator, lecturer and writer

William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey (1760-1844) was one of the greatest art collectors of all time. He was also an obsessive collector of new silver and goldsmiths’ work. This was invariably of astonishingly high quality and often made to his own eccentric designs. Collectively, these works evoke the world of the princely patrons of the Renaissance and baroque. Not only that, but the lecture shows that Beckford’s fascinating silver is as much a window into his personality as Fonthill Abbey itself. But the silver survives; the abbey does not.