Joseph Archer Crowe

The recorded working language is English. Employment is recorded with Foreign Office. Work by Joseph Archer Crowe is recorded in the collections of J. Paul Getty Museum. Distinctions recorded are Companion of the Order of the Bath and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.

• Name — Sir Joseph Archer Crowe • Born — 25 October 1825 • Birthplace — London, England • Died — 6 September 1896 • Place of death — Werbach, Germany • Occupation — Journalist; diplomat; art historian

Crowe was born at 141 Sloane Street, London, the son of the journalist Eyre Evans Crowe and his wife Margaret Archer. Shortly after his birth the family moved to France, where Crowe's childhood was spent, mostly in Paris, where his father was based as the correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle; his home was the centre of a liberal and artistic circle that mixed French and expatriates. At an early age Crowe showed considerable aptitude for painting and entered the studio of Paul Delaroche in Paris, with his brother Eyre Crowe, who was to become a painter of historical genre subjects, and the friend and amanuensis of William Makepeace Thackeray.

He returned to England with his father in 1843, following him into journalism as a correspondent for the Morning Chronicle and the Daily News. • Illustration — Crowe on the Battlefield of Inkerman in 1854 During the Crimean War he worked as a correspondent for the Illustrated London News. On his return from the Crimea he received an offer to direct an art school in India. He went there, but when the post did not materialise he turned to journalism again, acting as a correspondent for the Times during the Indian Mutiny. Illness cut his time in India short, and he returned to England. He was a correspondent for the Times during the Austro-Italian War in 1858, and was present at the battle of Solferino.

Through the influence of Lord John Russell, Crowe was appointed consul-general for Saxony in 1860, and in this capacity he represented French interests at Leipzig during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. In 1872 he was appointed consul-general for Westphalia and the Rhenish Provinces in Düsseldorf and in 1880 commercial attaché to the embassies at Berlin and Vienna. In 1882 he was promoted to be commercial attaché for the whole of Europe, based in Paris. In 1883 he was secretary to the Danube Conference in London; in 1889 plenipotentiary at the Samoa Conference in Berlin and in 1890 British envoy at the Telegraph Congress in Paris. For these services he was created a C.B. on 14 March 1885, and K.C.M.G on 21 May 1890.

In 1846, at the suggestion of his father, Crowe began to collect materials for a history of the early Flemish painters. The next year, while travelling between Berlin and Vienna, Crowe made a chance acquaintance with a young Italian art student, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. This acquaintance was renewed later, and cemented into friendship in London, where Cavalcaselle had fled as a political refugee. They decided to collaborate on the work on Flemish painters, which Crowe had in hand. They visited collections and searched manuscripts together, and no detail was decided until it had been fully debated between them. The text itself was written by Crowe. They went on to collaborate on histories of Italian painting, and monographs on Titian and Raphael.

Crowe married Asta von Barby (c.1841-1908), daughter of Baron Gustav von Barby and Eveline von Ribbentrop, in Gotha, Germany, 11 April 1861. They had three sons, including Sir Eyre Crowe and four daughters.

He died at Schloss Gamburg in Franconia on 6 September 1896.

A recent book in italian is the first to study him: Valentina Conticelli, Joseph Archer Crowe storico dell'arte (1825-1896), Edizioni Palumbi, Teramo 2023.

The authorities additionally record the headings J. Crowe, Sir Joseph Arthur Crowe, Joseph Arthur Crowe, James Archer Crowe and Sir Joseph Archer Crowe. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Eyre Evans Crowe and Margaret Archer. He married Asta von Barby. 4 children are recorded: Eyre Crowe, Victoria Amy Eveline Crowe, Vera Crowe and Evan Barby Crowe.

Joseph Archer Crowe is recorded as having received Companion of the Order of the Bath and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. Recognition and collections. Crowe received Companion of the Order of the Bath and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. Paul Getty Museum.