Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro

Hugh Andrew Johnstone was a Scottish art collector and painter. When his father (Sir Alexander Munro) died in 1809, he inherited large estates, including Novar House in Scotland. Munro studied at Christ Church Oxford from 1814 to 1817, but left without completing a degree. In 1816 he was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn, an association of students, barristers and judges, but there are no indications of his joining the bar.   Munro was a friend, travel companion and a chief patron of J.M.W. Turner (1755-1851). In 1836, they travelled together through France to Italy. Munro became a trustee of Turner’s charity for the relief of impoverished artists in 1844 and was appointed an executor of his estate in 1849.    Munro presented his own works at exhibits of art by amateurs held at 121 Pall Mall in London in the 1850s.    Munro never married. He died on 22 November 1864 at his residence in Novar. He had assembled a collection of 2,500 works by contemporary British artists and Old Masters (including works by Raphael, Rembrandt, Veronese and Watteau). The general public was able to view the “Novar Collection” at his numerous residences in Mayfair (London) and Novar (Scotland). Christie’s sold works from the collection over the course of seven auctions between 1860 and 1878.    Munro owned Jan Steen’s _Consequences of Public Drunkenness, _mentioned in the George Watson-Taylor Sale (1771-1841) on 13 May 1823 and the William Beckford Collection in 1833, until it was sold for 10 pounds at Christie’s on 1 June 1878 (lot 105). The Jan Steen painting entered the Adolphe Schloss Collection by 1903.     Links:   ·        https://www.geni.com/people/Hugh-Andrew-JOHNSTONE-MUNRO-Mr-10th-Laird-of-Novar/6000000094436707372 ·        https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001,0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000060378?rskey=aDRBJu&result=1 ·        https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001,0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-37795?rskey=pf1NiU&result=1 ·        https://archive.org/details/memorialsofchris01robeuoft/page/xiv/mode/2up?q=Novar ·        https://archive.org/details/memorialsofchris01robeuoft/page/294/mode/2up?q=Steen