Ten glorious years 1999-2009… and many more to come
Planning ahead for the BAJ … and a planning triumph at the Ashmolean
With this somewhat delayed second issue of the tenth volume of The British Art Journal we are proud to draw to the attention of our subscribers and readers all over the world that we are ten years old this year, having been founded in the Summer of 1999, with Vol I, No. 1 of the new journal having appeared in the Autumn of that year. It is a brutal fact of publishing life, and of serious art magazine publishing in particular, that not many can boast as much. More is to the point, not many can point, as we can, with confidence to the future. Part of the temporary delay in going to press has been caused by our decision to publish early in the New Year (2010) the third number of Vol X as a specially enlarged celebratory edition of the journal, focusing on the theme of British art in its international context, something for which the BAJ has argued in an attempt to escape from the insularity that has been too often so characteristic of research into British art.
The BAJ was assisted in its early days by the generosity of a few individuals but since that time it has continued entirely through sales and subscriptions and the support of a few faithful advertisers, some of whom have been with us from the very start. It is with some pleasure therefore that in this issue we can point to an important article by the authority on all things Jacobite, Dr Edward Corp, on the continuing controversy about the so-called portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie by La Tour, the correct identification of which as a portrait of his brother, Cardinal Henry, was made in these pages by Dr Bendor Grosvenor, as a result of his researches within one of our longest-standing advertisers, Philip Mould Historical Portraits.
Equally pleasing is the opportunity to point out that the painting which adorns the back outside cover of this issue (and see below) has been bought from another great supporter of the BAJ, Anthony Mould, by the newly reopened Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The artist, Roger Wagner, is one of the more remarkable and original painters working today, and it is especially fitting that a work of such inspired imagination and technical brilliance should mark what is an equally inspired redevelopment of the oldest public museum in Britain.
Another important supporter, in another direction, has been The William MB Berger Educational Trust, which has enabled the BAJ to administer the prestigious annual award of the William MB Berger Prize for the best book published in the field of British art.
Finally, we ought to point to the active website of The British Art Journal, www.britishartjournal.co.uk, which also features a blog that will be going interactive in the New Year. Do join in…
Robin Simon
