Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet, 1st Viscount Monserrate (23 January 1817 – 17 February 1901) was a British merchant and art collector.

Early life

Cook was born on 23 January 1817 in

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was the son of William Cook and Mary Ann (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Lainson) Cook.

Career

In 1833, he entered his father's firm Cook, Son & Co. based in the City of London, which traded finished wool, cotton, linen and silk, after travels in Europe and the Near East. From 1869, he was its head, rising to be one of Britain's three richest men. He was created 1st Visconde de Monserrate,

Sintra Sintra (, ), officially the Town of Sintra (), is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2021 was 385,654, in an area of . Sintra is one of the ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, and on 10 March 1886, he was created 1st Baronet Cook, of Doughty House,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Collections

In 1849, he bought Doughty House in Richmond and in 1855 the quinta of Monserrate in

, Portugal. There, he restored

Monserrate Palace The Monserrate Palace () is a palatial villa located near Sintra, the traditional summer resort of the Portuguese court in the foothills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean north west of the capital, Lisbon. History According to legend, there was ...

, a Moorish-style palace, and became ''visconde de Monserrate'' (Viscount of Monserrate). He began to collect classical sculpture in the late 1850s. He collected his first major paintings in 1868, at which date Sir

John Charles Robinson Sir John Charles Robinson (16 December 1824, Nottingham – 10 April 1913, Swanage) was an English painter and etcher, although he is now better remembered as an art collector and curator. Biography He was raised by his grandfather, who was a boo ...

(1824–1913), former

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

curator, became his advisor. He had 510 major works by 1876 and in 1885 added a Long Gallery to Doughty House to accommodate the growing collection, making this gallery open to scholars. His collection was left, in trust, to his eldest son and his heirs. In 2017 a painting attributed to

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

entitled ''

Salvator Mundi , Latin for Saviour of the World, is a subject in iconography depicting Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding an orb (frequently surmounted by a cross), known as a . The latter symbolizes the Earth, and the whol ...

'' was sold for $450 million by the auction house

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

to Saudi Prince

Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Farhan Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud ( ''Badr bin ʿAbdullāh bin Moḥammed bin Farḥān Āl Suʿūd''; born 16 September 1985) is a Saudi Arabian businessman and politician who is a member of the Saudi royal family and the inaugur ...

. This painting, bought by Francis Cook in 1900, was sold in June 1958 by

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

for only £45 since the family was of the belief that the artist was

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (or Beltraffio) (1466 or 1467 – 1516) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance from Lombardy, who worked in the studio of Leonardo da Vinci. Boltraffio and Bernardino Luini are the strongest artistic personal ...

, a contemporary and studio mate of Leonardo.

Personal life

On 1 August 1841, he married Emily Martha Lucas, the daughter of Robert Lucas. Together, they were the parents of: *

Frederick Cook Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician and ethnographer, who is most known for allegedly being the first to reach the North Pole on April 21, 1908. A competing claim was made a year l ...

(1844–1920), who married Mary Anne Elizabeth Cotton (d. 1913), daughter of Richard Payne Cotton. * Emily Jane Cook (1849–1915), who married Maj.Gen. Sir Euston Henry Sartorius (1844–1925), the son of

Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Sir George Rose Sartorius, in 1874. * Wyndam Francis Cook (1860–1905), who married Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Freeland (d. 1925) in 1887.Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 880. Cited by http://thepeerage.com/p25102.htm#i251016 Emily died on 12 August 1884. On 1 October 1885, he married for the second time to the American feminist stockbroker, and former clairvoyant,

Tennessee Celeste Claflin Tennessee Celeste Claflin, Viscountess of Montserrat (October 26, 1844 – January 18, 1923), also known as Tennie C., was an American suffragist best known as the first woman, along with her sister Victoria Woodhull, to open a Wall Street b ...

(1844–1923). She was the daughter of Reuben-Buckman Claflin and had set up her own firm with help from

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

. Her sister,

Victoria Woodhull Victoria Claflin Woodhull (born Victoria California Claflin; September 23, 1838 – June 9, 1927), later Victoria Woodhull Martin, was an American leader of the women's suffrage movement who ran for president of the United States in the 187 ...

, was the first woman to run for the American presidency. He died on 17 February 1901, leaving an estate of £1,600,000, and was buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

. He was succeeded by his son Frederick. His widow, Lady Cook, died in 1923.

Works collected by him

*'' Three Marys at the Sepulchre'', by

Hubert van Eyck Hubert van Eyck (; – 18 September 1426) was an Early Netherlandish painter and older brother of Jan van Eyck, as well as Lambert and Margareta, also painters. The absence of any single work that he can clearly be said to have completed contin ...

(

Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...

, Rotterdam) *'' Old Woman Cooking Eggs'', by

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

(

National Gallery of Scotland The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfa ...

, Edinburgh) *'' Christ at the Column'', by

Antonello da Messina Antonello da Messina (; 1425–1430February 1479), properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina, was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Italian Early Ren ...

(

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, Paris) *'' Portrait of a lady'', by

François Clouet François Clouet ( – 22 December 1572), son of Jean Clouet, was a French Renaissance miniaturist and painter, particularly known for his detailed portraits of the French ruling family. Historical references François Clouet was born in Tou ...

(

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington DC)
''Woman at her toilet''
by Metsu ( Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, CA). * Statuette of Mercury (

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York, NY)

References

External links

A catalogue of the paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, & elsewhere in the collection of Sir Frederick Cook, bt., Visconde de Monserrate
catalogue of his collection published posthumously in 1913
Quinta of Monserrate

24 works owned by Cook
in the

National Gallery of Art, Washington The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook 1817 births 1901 deaths English art collectors

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

Monserrate Monserrate (named after Catalan language, Catalan homonym mountain ''Montserrat (mountain), Montserrat'') is a mountain over high that overlooks the city center of Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia. It rises to above the sea level, where th ...

People from Richmond, London People from Sintra Burials at West Norwood Cemetery