Alfred Felton Bequest

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Name:	Alfred Felton Bequest
Type:	Charitable Foundation
Established:	1904
Location:	Melbourne, Victoria
Distribution:	$2,250,000 per annum
Chair:	Sir Andrew Grimwade CBE, Chair, The Felton Bequests' Committee
CEO:	Teresa Zolnierkiewicz, Secretary, The Felton Bequests' Committee
Website:	ANZ Trustees
Related:	Click here for a list of pages related to this organisation.

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Founded by the will of Alfred Felton.

The Felton Bequest remains a landmark philanthropic donation in Australian history over a century after its establishment. The Bequest stipulates that half of the funds are used for charitable purposes in Victoria, with a primary focus on the physical and emotional health of women and children, and the other half be used to purchase works of art, calculated 'to raise and improve public taste' for the National Gallery of Victoria.

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History

On January 8 1904 Businessman Alfred Felton died leaving some £378,000 ($40 million in today's money) in trust. Having lived in a few modest rooms in St Kilda's Esplanade Hotel, his enormous art bequest made the National Gallery of Victoria one of the most richly endowed galleries in the British Empire. Felton wrote in his diary in the last year of his life, "Wealth!! Get it spent."

Felton's Bequest enabled the National Gallery of Victoria to build a comprehensive collection before art prices spiralled in the late 1950's. Since his death over 15,000 works of art valued at over $2 billion have been purchased including works by Rembrandt, Willima Blake, Tiepolo, Monet, Cezanne, van Gogh, and Turner.

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