CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND ASSESSMENT
Joseph Shipley was a remarkable man. From lowly beginnings he became one of the most respected solicitors in the area and by his death had amassed a vast personal fortune.
He had also amassed a vast collection of paintings, his main interest outside of his legal practice. He bought paintings for over seventy years and never, so far as is known, parted with any. He bought cheaply and indiscriminatingly, sometimes in person but more often during his later years, through agents. Judging by the correspondence available, his acumen in this regard was considerable.
Whether Shipley appreciated his paintings as the works of art many of them undoubtedly were or whether he regarded them as possible business investments or merely as status symbols is not known. Certainly he must have enjoyed looking at them as paintings were hung from floor to ceiling in every room in Saltwell Park House, It is fair to say that was a space available anywhere, then a picture would be hung to cover it. It was, of course, fashionable, for affluent Victorians to completely fill the rooms of their houses with their possessions and Shipley was merely following the current practise, albeit slightly to excess, with his paintings. Also he had no guide as to how paintings should be displayed as there were no public collections in the Northern region. For this, and for his knowledge of paintings, he must have relied entirely on the many art books and periodicals which he owned.
When Shipley died, the collection was undoubtedly over praised in the press. Journalists seemed to compete with one another for the number of artists they could name as being in Mr. Shipley's collection. Deep was their disappointment when they discovered many of the reputed 'Old' Masters were not quite so old. Whether Shipley knew some of his paintings were copies is not known but he must surely have had some suspicions if only for the very low prices he was frequently asked to pay.
However, whether he knew their real value or not, he left a remarkable collection, many items of which were unjustly disparaged after his death. Among the pictures were a fine selection of Dutch and Flemish paintings, unappreciated at the time of the bequest but now researched and consequently re-evaluated, together with some good examples of Victorian art which were probably over regarded at the time. Shipley did not collect 'fashionable art such as the Pre-Raphaelites (probably due to the high prices such paintings would command) and this undoubtedly contributed to the widespread condemnation of the bequest in the press.
His collection also suffered from the efforts of his 'restorers' who appear to have compensated for their lack of knowledge and expertise with great enthusiasm, in the process damaging a number of pictures and hiding the charms of others.
Art knowledge and education have increased enormously over the last seventy years and the opinions of the experts who examined the paintings on behalf of Newcastle upon Tyne are not regarded as still valid today. Just as some of the paintings which they retained as being suitable for an art gallery are today considered rather poor examples of art, so other paintings which were auctioned as being of little value could today be worth thousands of pounds. We can only speculate about these paintings which were 'lost' from the collection.
Shipley was remembered for his excellence in law during his life and for his Will in the days following his death but he is remembered today for the many paintings which he owned and through which Gateshead now possesses an excellent provincial art gallery.
