Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Salting Collection: With 16 Illustrations
George Salting was born in 1836 in Australia, where his father had extensive sugar estates and sheep farms he was educated at Eton and at the University of Sydney, and, having inherited a considerable fortune, settled in early middle life in England. Whether by accident or from deliberate choice he early became associated with a circle of men - chief among whom was the late Mr. Louis Huth - who were both judges and buyers of fine things, and this fact undoubtedly played an important part, if not in forming, at least in confirming, the strong bent of his character towards the acquisition of works of art. To his life's end this pursuit remained his most absorbing interest, and his closest friendships were made among those who had sympathies and interests in a direction kindred with his own.
As a collector, he followed his own methods, taking care, while seeking the best advice, to form his own judgment on every item. The process was usually deliberate, but the objects of his desire were followed with a quiet persistency which usually achieved its end. Gifted with great natural taste and flair for fine things, his habits gave him the opportunity of studying the best examples of almost every category. Thus he added cultivation to taste; and since his means permitted him a practically unlimited scope, he became that rare phenomenon - a collector of the finest things with an appreciation for all.
If there was one guiding principle which ruled his collecting, it was the preservation of a high standard. With this object he did not hesitate, whenever he judged it necessary, to eliminate objects which he considered of second-rate interest or importance and thus it happens that among the large number of objects which are comprised in his collections, comparatively few can be regarded as of doubtful authenticity or indifferent quality.
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