Robert Vernon

Robert Vernon (1774–1849) was an English contractor and businessman, known as a patron of art. Life Vernon was a self-made man, a jobmaster, posting contractor, and dealer in horses in London in a large way. He amassed a fortune as contractor for the supply of horses to the British armies during the Napoleonic wars. Between 1820 and 1847 Vernon collected about 200 pictures by living British artists, with a few by other European painters. On 22 December 1847 he presented a selection of 166 pictures from his collection to the nation through a gift to the National Gallery. His collection of mainly modern British art included paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and J.M.W Turner. There were also sculptures by E.H. Baily and John Gibson