Robert Vernon (art patron)

Vernon was a self-made man, a jobmaster, posting contractor, and dealer in horses in London in a large way.

He amassed a fortune as contractor for the supply of horses to the British armies during the Napoleonic wars.

[2] His collection of mainly modern British art included paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and J.M.W Turner.

He died at his house in Pall Mall, London on 22 May 1849, and was buried at Ardington, Berkshire, where he owned property.

[1] One item of particular interest in the Vernon collection is the Vernon Mona Lisa, a painting of the same subject as the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, and which has at times been claimed to also have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci, as a second version of the work in the Louvre.