Picture Stock Books

"Pictures" were defined as paintings, excluding watercolours (the latter were recorded in the Drawings Stock Books, NGA27/1/2). Picture stock books can be described in two sections:

[1] A run of seventeen volumes (1853-1988, NGA27/1/1/1-17) with the details of all stock acquired by Agnew's and ordered by the date acquired. For an overview of the information contained with these volumes, refer to the Stock Book description at NGA27/1.

Note: from volume eight any pictures purchased jointly with one or more partners were given the prefix 'J' and recorded in a separate sequence in the latter half of the volume. The practice of seperately recording 'J' stock numbers changed at the end of this volume (in 1933), and unsold joint stock was transferred to volume 11. After this date all joint stock was recorded as part of the original stock number sequence, with a prefix.

[2] Six volumes indexed by artist and date received (NGA27/1/1/18-23), comprising four branch-specific volumes (1 entitled Manchester, 3 London) and two general picture index stock books containing partially duplicated stock entries from [1]. To find the drawing's original date of acquisition, refer to the corresponding stock number entry in [1]. The primary purpose of these volumes was to keep track of the disposal of stock (for example, if it was transferred to another branch, location, or client).

For more general information about the information contained within these volumes, refer to the 'Stock Books' description at NGA27/1. Additional index(es) to artists within these volumes can be found by referring to 'Indexes to Pictures' (NGA27/31/1).