George Salting (15 August 1835 – 12 December 1909) was a Colony of New South Wales-born British art collector. He had inherited considerable wealth from his father; Salting collected paintings, Chinese porcelains, furniture, and many other categories of art and decorative items. He left his paintings to the National Gallery, London, prints and drawings to the British Museum, and the remainder to the Victoria & Albert Museum, requesting that the collection be displayed intact rather than divided among the museum's departments.
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Early life
Salting was born in Sydney, the son of Severin Kanute (Knud) Salting (1806–1865), a Dane who had extensive business interests in New South Wales. George Salting's mother was Louisa Augusta, née Fiellerup.
George Salting was educated locally and then moved with his family to England and studied at Eton College. In 1853 the family returned to New South Wales, and Salting entered the newly founded University of Sydney. Salting graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1857. In 1858 the Salting family again travelled to England; Louisa Salting died there on 24 July 1858. Severin Salting settled in Kent, where he died in 1865. Severin Salting made a large fortune in sheep-farming and sugar-growing which he bequeathed to his son; George Salting inherited a fortune estimated at £30,000 a year.
Legacy
Salting left his entire collection of paintings, Oriental china, bronzes, and miniatures, valued at from $5,000,000 to $20,000,000, to British museums.
John D. Beazley named after an attic red-figure vase formerly owned by George Salting today in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Salting Painter.
Collection
He gave three paintings to the National Gallery during his life, and bequeathed an additional 192 in his will. Of those 31 have since been transferred to the Tate Gallery. His collection of paintings included:
Dieric Bouts, Virgin and Child
Robert Campin (follower), The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen
Canaletto, Venice: The Piazza San Marco from Two Views of Piazza San Marco
Petrus Christus, Portrait of a Young Man
Cima da Conegliano, David and Jonathan (?) and The Virgin and Child
Joos van Cleve, The Holy Family
John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral and Leadenhall from the River Avon and Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, A Wagon in the Plains of Artois, The Wood Gatherer, The Leaning Tree Trunk, Evening on the Lake, Cows in a Marshy Landscape, Souvenir of a Journey to Coubron, and A Flood
Charles-François Daubigny, River Scene with Ducks, The Garden Wall, Willows and Alders
Gaspard Dughet, Landscape with a Cowherd
Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of a Young Man in Red
Jan van Goyen, A Windmill by a River, A River Scene, with Fishermen laying a Net and A Scene on the Ice
Frans Hals, Portrait of a Woman with a Fan and Portrait of a Man holding Gloves