British Institution for promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom... [including] Catalogue of the Works of British Artists place in the gallerys of the British Institution, Pall-Mall..

Very rare original documentation, listing paintings by John Glover, of works exhibited at the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts (usually known as the British Institution), which had been founded in 1806 as a private club for connoisseurs, and to exhibit the works of both contemporaries and Old Masters. Admission cost a shilling. These exhibition catalogues are only very rarely offered for sale, and are scarce in libraries. An attractive inclusion in this issue is the folding engraved plate, which shows simple sketches of many of the eminent visitors to the exhibition.

This particular catalogue dates from 1819, after Glover's fruitful sketching tours of the Lake District and Wales. As a result, it is not surprising to learn that he exhibited two large canvases here, the first his view of 'Tintern Abbey', much beloved of the Romantics, and a second of 'Durham Cathedral'. The painting of Tintern Abbey may well be the same painting he is known to have exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1818, where it was listed as "Superb in ruins, still the holy pile, etc." Interestingly, the great historian of the RA Algernon Graves attributes the painting to Glover's eldest son John Richardson Glover, but recent work appears to confirm the work was executed by the elder Glover; indeed, the attribution here to "J. Glover" would seem to strongly support this thesis.

Regarding the second Glover painting listed here, it is known that he sold a vast painting of Durham Cathedral for 500 guineas in 1812, and that he painted the subject again in 1838. This 1819 canvas, listed as a modest 2'3" by 4'3", would appear to be a third version.

Among the many other contributors listed here are also Constable, William Glover, Richard Westall, and Samuel Prout, uncle of the more famous John Skinner Prout.