Identity:

Louis Huth, collector, was the son of Frederick Huth, a German who emigrated to England from Spain in 1809 and established the family merchant house. His elder brother Charles Frederick Huth (1806-1895) was also a collector, and another brother Henry was a noted bibliophile. He married Helen Rose Huth (1837-1924), née Ogilvy.

Life:

Huth was Director of The London Assurance for Fire, Life and Marine Assurance.

Huth was a collector and patron of Aesthetic movement artists, including Watts and JW. Between 1865-1869 he commissioned Matthew Digby Wyatt to design Possingworth Manor, Cross in Hand, Sussex. He was also a member of the Fine Arts Club.

He owned Symphony in White, No. 3 (YMSM 61), Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea (YMSM 105) and commissioned Arrangement in Black, No. 2: Portrait of Mrs Louis Huth (YMSM 125). Three of JW's Venice pastels were owned by him at some point: The Bridge; flesh colour and brown (M.759), The Storm - Sunset (M.808) and Fishing Boats (M.819). His collection fetched over £50,000 at Christie's on 20 May 1905.

Bibliography:

Macleod, Dianne Sachko, Art and the Victorian Middle Class: Money and the Making of Cultural Identity, Cambridge, 1996, p. 432.