Biography

Evelyne Bell was awarded a distinction for an MA from the Dept. of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex under the tutelage of Dr S. Goubert.

For her dissertation she carried out the first investigation of a series of engravings designed by Hubert Francois Gravelot in 1758, which included an Almanac, entitled ‘Almanach utile et agréable de la Loterie de l’Ecole Militaire pour l’année 1760’. The work involved comparative study of 18th century engravings in France, England and Italy and a sociological and historical analysis of games, symbols and the origins of the Royal Military School in Paris around 1750.

Following this study she was appointed a research assistant at Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury where she produced the first catalogue raisonné of the work of Henry Walton. This project required her to work in conjunction with private collectors, local and national archives as well as the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the Courtauld Institute and the FitzwilliamMuseum. She was awarded a fellowship at the YaleCenter for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, USA to complete her research, the result of which was published by Gainsborough’s House.

Since then she has built up a reputation as an international authority on Walton and has advised auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s, as well as individual and corporate clients.

Her experience includes selling and negotiating sales of 18th century works of art, including the sale of an oil painting by James Forrester to a major London Gallery.

The Folio Society has commissioned her to do some picture research on a number of books such as The Gentleman’s Daughter by Amanda Vickery, Aristocrats by Stella Tillyard, The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James and The Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin. She has also contributed to the publication of 30.000 Years of Art by Phaidon. She is a member of the Picture Research Association.

She has extensive experience of working in English and French archives and corresponding in different languages with other scholars. She has translated letters for the publication of Goya: a life in letters by Sarah Symmons and correspondence in relation to Mrs Graham as painted by Gainsborough.

She has worked as a consultant on the valuation of the sculpture collection of the Bank of Montreal and for Gainsborough’s House in relation to their acquisition of Gravelot drawings.

She has catalogued and reviewed works belonging to the Victor Batte-Lay Trust for the Public Catalogue Foundation under the instigation of the National Gallery in London. She has produced several websites: one for the Friends of the Minories, of which she is a member, one for The Constable Trust and, more recently she has created the on-line catalogue of the Victor Batte-Lay Trust Collection thanks to a grant from the Essex Heritage Trust. She has also curated the exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Victor Batte-Lay Trust.

She is a trustee of the Constable Trust and a Fellow in the Art History and Theory Department of the University of Essex.

Email: evelyne.bell1@virgin.net