Chepstow and Monmouth Museums have been awarded £200,000.00 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to be spent over a five year period on the acquisition of fine art -watercolours, oils, sketches- and travel accounts to explain the history of the Wye Tour, which was made popular from the 18th Century as the British equivalent of the Grand Tour. The award comes under HLF's Collecting Cultures scheme, a one-off museums and galleries collections' development programme designed to help support acquisitions, curatorial skills, research and increased public involvement. It is unique in providing curators with a sum of money for strategic development of collections rather than having to wait for a painting or object to come onto the market and then applying for HLF support. Chepstow and Monmouth Museums already hold some important pieces - guidebooks, engravings and paintings relating to the Wye Tour. The award will allow the Museums to continue top build the high quality collection of original works such as painting Chepstow by Thomas Rowlandson 1780 and Anne Cooper's Journal 1786, Harriet Bowdlers' 12 views of Monmouthshire 1789 and Michaelangelo Rooker of New Weir & Coldwell Rocks. Dan Clayton Jones, Chairman of Heritage Lottery Fund's Committee for Wales, explains the added elements of the funded project: "The majority of the £200,000 will be used to acquire art and journals associated with the Wye Tour to enhance the Museums' collections. "However, a comprehensive public programme is also planned, including guided walks and tours and printed trails, a young peoples' project 'Why Tour Today' and performance-based interpretation, with a tour of performances at local venues and village halls. "Volunteers will also have the opportunity to undertake research on material relating to the Tour, learn about the acquisition process, documentation work and become involved in both the organising of the programme of activities and the activities themselves." Anne Rainsbury, Curator, Chepstow Museum who put together the application on behalf of the two museums in Monmouthshire County Council's Museums Service, said "The Collecting Cultures Award will allow us to build a strong, quality collection which will showcase the Wye Tour and its importance locally and within the Picturesque movement as a whole. "This is a fantastic opportunity for us and we are obviously thrilled that our bid was chosen amongst stiff competition from across the UK. "It gives us a secure foundation to seek out material, and we hope that over the next five years we will find some substantial works to acquire for our museum collections. "I hope that the programme of activities planned will excite and inform people of all ages, and there are creative opportunities planned too – so that the tradition of the Wye Valley as a source of inspiration will continue into the future." Visitors to the Wye Valley today are following in the footsteps of many an eighteenth century traveller, sketchbook in hand, eagerly pursuing the British equivalent of the European Grand Tour. In 1745, it was John Egerton who was the 'Father of the Voyage down the Wye' when he started taking friends on boat trips down the Valley from his rectory at Ross-on-Wye. By 1770 the two day trip from Ross to Chepstow had already become established when the Reverend William Gilpin came. His "Observations on the River Wye..relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty" published some 13 years later became the Bible for those who followed religiously in his footsteps in search of the 'Picturesque' - looking for the landscapes that would make the ideal composition for a picture. Thanks to the HLF award, visitors to the Chepstow and Monmouth Museums will have access to a wide collection of materials depicting the Wye Tour as the collection is built over the next five years. Over the last 14 years, HLF has funded the acquisition of paintings and objects totalling more than £130million across the UK. Without HLF, Stubbs' Whistlejacket would not be hanging on the walls of the National Gallery, Botticelli's The Virgin Adoring the Christ Child could not be viewed at the National Gallery of Scotland and Collecting the Beatles memorabilia would not be on show at the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2010. HLF has also encouraged acquisitions to go on tour to regional museums and galleries, as well as requiring accompanying education programmes. Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, who initiated the Collecting Cultures programme, adds: "We have huge demands on our budgets and competition for grants is fierce. Every element of the nation's heritage seeks support from HLF, but our funding for museums and galleries has had a particularly transformational impact over the last 14 years. " We will never have enough money available to fund all the major art acquisitions that hit the news headlines, but we can help smaller local museums to develop their collections. "The Lottery is an important part of a bigger support system for museums and galleries and must work alongside a culture of private giving and strong government support."
