H.R.H. the Prince of Wales Receives National Sporting Library Chairman and Curator at Clarence House in London

Dana and F. Turner Reuter, Jr., with Mary and Manuel H. Johnson in front of Clarence House, London. Manuel H. Johnson serves as Chairman of the Board and Turner Reuter as Curator of Fine Arts at the National Sporting Library

On January 28, T.R.H. the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall received Mr. and Mrs. Manuel H. Johnson of Upperville, Va., and Mr. and Mrs. F. Turner Reuter, Jr., of Aldie, Va., at Clarence House in London, England. Manuel H. Johnson serves as Chairman of the Board and F. Turner Reuter, Jr., as Curator of Fine Arts of the National Sporting Library in Middleburg.

Reuter and Johnson presented the Prince of Wales with a limited edition, numbered copy of Reuter’s book, Animal and Sporting Artists in America. A second copy of the book was inscribed to the Prince’s mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which was offered as a contribution to the collections of the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

In 2008, the National Sporting Library published Animal and Sporting Artists in America, the first scholarly reference work devoted to American animal and sporting artists ever published, containing the biographies of over 2,000 individuals.

The British Monarchy’s passion for equestrian and field sports has driven aristocratic tastes for sporting life and art for over five centuries, making the Royal Family among the foremost patrons in the history of the genre. These tastes had a profound influence on American life and art.

The Royal Collections include works by the English naturalist Mark Catesby (ca.1682-1749), whose drawings for The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahamas (published in 1749) represent the first major illustrated record of North American wildlife.These paintings are among the first works of art to show how the development of American art and sporting life has been deeply linked to English culture from the earliest days of our Nation’s history. Other American artists in Reuter’s book who studied or worked in Britain include John Singleton Copley and Edward Troye.

The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall received the Johnsons and Reuters in the downstairs study of Clarence House. Clarence House, which stands beside St James's Palace, was built in 1825 for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, and serves as the official residence of the Prince of Wales.

During the audience, Johnson and Reuter discussed the historic relationship between English and American sporting art, their shared love for country life, and the preservation of classical architecture. The Prince also mentioned his organic farming initiatives through his food company, Duchy Originals, and his working organic garden and farm at his country residence, the Highgrove Estate near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.

The National Sporting Library’s publication of Animal and Sporting Artists in America was followed by the opening of the Museum of Sporting Art at Vine Hill in January. Construction on a new addition to the Vine Hill Museum will begin later this spring, and the Library plans a grand re-opening in late 2010. The new museum will feature 11 galleries with exhibition spaces for the permanent collection of sporting art as well as traveling exhibitions.

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