Our friend and colleague Andy Ramus, great grandson of the famous Henry Ramus ‘Fine Art Dealer’, very kindly sent us a link to his latest blog entry on Ramus: see Andy’s blog here:
I’ve had a series of very productive and convivial email exchanges with Andy over the last few years as part of my own research into the development of the 19th century antique and curiosity trade, and Andy very generously shared his own research into the Ramus family with me – Thank you again Andy!
Andy sketches out a fascinating story of the Ramus family of art dealers and their partners and art dealer colleagues in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry Ramus & Company, ‘Fine Art Dealers’ were trading at 68 Wardour Street, London in c.1900, after moving from Manchester where Ramus was a ‘picture-frame maker’ – for those of you that follow these things, the business move from ‘picture-frame maker’ to ‘art dealer’ is a familiar pathway for 19th century art dealers.
As far as the Antique Dealer project is concerned, Henry Ramus will regrettably not be included in our database for the project – his primary trading activities as a ‘Fine Art’ dealer will exclude him from the current project, which, as you’ll know, focuses on the ‘decorative art’ trade, and dealers in antiques. We’ll explain more about the structure of the research focus in our introductory essays on the (soon to be seen) interactive website – it is on it’s way by the way!….Henry’s cousin, Isaac Ramus (1827-1901), was a ‘Dealer in Works of Art’ at various addresses in London in the second half of the 19th century; his business eventually settled in Piccadilly, London, and in 1901, after his death, was continued by his sons Jacob and Albert as Ramus Brothers, Dealers in Works of Art’ – Isaac, Jacob and Albert WILL be in our project database.
Andy’s blog also very usefully directs attention to the dealer practice of the ‘ring’ or ”knockout’ (see Andy’s blog for more details) – the history of which is also something we’ll be investigating as part of the antique dealer project…..so keep your eye on the outputs!
Thanks again Andy!
Mark
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