[Richard Redgrave, RA, landscape artist, as Keeper of Paintings at South Kensington Museum [now Victoria and Albert.]] Autograph Letter Signed declining to buy a painting as it is a portrait and they are in any case short of gallery space.

Redgrave’s entry in the Oxford DNB praises his ‘exceptional administrative skill’, and states that ‘Redgrave and Cole supervised the new South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), for which Redgrave designed the innovative art gallery to house John Sheepshanks's extensive collection of British art, given to the state in 1857.’ 1p, 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, laid down on part of a leaf from an autograph album. Pasted down at the head of the letter is a thin strip on which is printed ‘Inspector-General for Art. R. Redgrave, R.A.’ The male recipient is unnamed. Responding to a letter of the previous day, he explains that it is ‘not the practice to receive works at South Kensington on Sale except where there is a prospect of the Department purchasing - and portraits do not come within the scope of our purchases.’ They are in addition ‘deficient in gallery space’, if the National Portrait Gallery were ‘better off in this respect’ the recipient’s offer would be one they would be better placed to entertain.