Serendipity language was by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a (lost) painting of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari by reference to a Persian fairy tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip". The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of". The name comes from "Serendip", an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), hence "Sarandib" by Arab traders. It is derived from the Sanskrit "Siṃhaladvīpaḥ" (Siṃhalaḥ, Sri Lanka + dvīpaḥ, island).
Walpole Society of research includes paintings, drawings, prints, miniatures, sculpture and illuminated manuscripts as well as patronage, collecting and travel. The period covered is the whole of the history of British art, from the Middle Ages to the present. Registered address "See also" English school of painting; art history Walpole Society The Walpole Society, named after Horace Walpole, was formed in 1911 to promote the study of the history of British art. From 1762 on, Walpole had published the first history of art in Britain, based on the manuscript notebooks of George Vertue, the most important source of information concerning British art