Thomas Agnew (1794&ndash1871) was the founder of the English firm of art dealers and
print publishers, Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd. Based originally in Manchester, his firm
became the most successful of all art dealers in nineteenth-century Britain, one that
still flourishes in London today. Focusing on the case of Thomas Agnew and his son
William, the purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of professional art
dealing in nineteenth-century England and to locate this practice within the contexts
of middle-class identity formation and conspicuous consumption. Through a detailed
examination of Agnew&rsquos practices and dealings, the paper seeks to address the role
played by art dealers in fashioning art patronage and collecting as a distinct discourse
in this pivotal period in the cultural history of England
