MINORIES
The Minories Galleries at 74 High Street, Colchester, Essex is Colchester's oldest Art Gallery. The building now known as the Minories was acquired in 1731 by Isaac Boggis with wealth from the woollen bays or baize making trade. The Tudor mansion was remodelled as an elegant Georgian residence for his son, Thomas Boggis, in 1776. It started to be called 'The Minories' in the 1870s, when it became fashionable to give buildings names. From 1884 to 1902 the house was leased by Dr Charles Otto Gustavus Becker, father of the artist Harry Becker who was raised in the Minories. In 1915 Geoffrey Crawford Bensusan-Butt and his wife, Dr Ruth, took the lease, and in 1923 they purchased the property from the Boggis-Rolfe family. Ruth was sister-in-law to artist Lucien Camille Pissarro (1863-1944), father of Orovida Camille Pissarro, and the Pissarro family visited regularly. After her retirement, in 1956 Ruth Bensusan-Butt sold the Minories to the Victor Batte-Lay Trust, which later became the Foundation. Since then, the building has been run as a Gallery directly by the Victor Batte-Lay Foundation and has also hosted tenants including Firstsite and Colchester Institute. The Victor Batte-Lay Foundation, over the years assisted by the ‘Friends of The Minories’ support group, have ensured the building be used to present art for the community of Colchester and visitors to the city.
Works by This Artist
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