Charles Henry Collins Baker (24 January 1880 – 3 July 1959) was an English art historian and painter.

Life and work

Charles Henry Collins Baker was born in

Ilminster Ilminster is a minster town and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now lies just east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to ...

, Somerset, the son of John Collins Baker and Fanny Henrietta Remmet. He was educated in

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

and the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. A landscape painter at the beginning of his career, he exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1907 and at the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

in 1909–16; from 1921 to 1925 he was the club's honorary secretary. In 1911 he became the art critic for the '' Saturday Review'', succeeding

D. S. MacColl Dugald Sutherland MacColl (10 March 1859 – 21 December 1948) was a Scottish watercolour painter, art critic, lecturer and writer. He was keeper of the Tate Gallery for five years. Life MacColl was born in Glasgow and educated at the Univ ...

, and became an assistant and secretary to Sir

Charles Holroyd Sir Charles Holroyd (9 April 1861 – 17 November 1917) was an English artist and curator. He was Keeper of the Tate from 1897 to 1906, and Director of the National Gallery from 1906 to 1916. Biography Early years Charles Holroyd was born ...

, Director of the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. While working at the Gallery he befriended

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

, who was working there as a cataloguer and guard. In 1912 Collins Baker wrote '' Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters'', considered to be his most important book;

Ellis Waterhouse Sir Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse (16 February 1905 – 7 September 1985) was an English art historian and museum director who specialised in Roman baroque and English painting. He was Director of the National Galleries of Scotland (1949–52) ...

called it the "last great scholarly monument" of "the last great age of the self-taught scholar in England, before it was permissible to call oneself an art historian". From 1914 he held the post of Keeper of the

, and was retained when Charles Holmes succeeded Holroyd as Director in 1916. Collins Baker and Holroyd have been described as the "driving forces of the Gallery" of that period. From 1928 he took on the position of Surveyor of the King's Pictures.

Oliver Millar Sir Oliver Nicholas Millar (26 April 1923 – 10 May 2007) was a British art historian. He was an expert on 17th-century British painting, and a leading authority on Anthony van Dyck in particular. He served in the Royal Household for 41 year ...

, a later holder of the post, described him as "a nice and kind man, but untrained in scholarly method." He was a senior research associate in the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

in San Marino, California, from 1932 to 1949. He died at his home in

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

, Middlesex, in 1959.

Publications

*''Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters'' (1912) *''A Catalogue of the

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...

Collection'' (1920) *''Crome'' (1921) *''Lely and Kneller'' (1922) *''A Catalogue of the Pictures at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...

'' (1929) *''A Catalogue of the British Paintings in the Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery'' (1936) *''A Catalogue of the Principal Pictures in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

'' (1937) *''A Catalogue of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

's Drawings and Paintings in the Huntington Library'' (1938) *''The Life and Circumstances of

James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, (6 January 16739 August 1744) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1698 until 1714, when he succeeded to the peerage as Baron Chandos, and vacated ...

'' (1948)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, C. H. Collins 1880 births 1959 deaths English art historians Surveyors of the King's Pictures People from Ilminster People associated with the National Gallery, London Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order People associated with the Huntington Library