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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Courtauld Institute
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(London WC2) Britain's first institute for the study of the history of art and architecture. Part of the university of London, it was established by the gift in 1930 of £100,000 from the industrialist Samuel Courtauld (1876–1947). He followed this with the remainder of the lease of his house at 20 Portman Square, built by Robert Adam in 1773–5. The new Institute was installed here in time to take its first students in 1932. The end of the lease in 1982 made necessary a new home. This was found in *Somerset House, to which the Institute moved in 1990.
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Courtauld was also a great collector, particularly of French Impressionists, and some 60 of his masterpieces (including Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère) form an important part of the Institute's superb collection. This is now on show in the rooms on the Strand side of Somerset House.
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