National Trust
arts|buildings|collections BULLETIN
spring issue may 2013
UNUSUAL SKILL AND ENTERPRISE
Anglesey Abbey and the Cambridge Tapestry Company
 continued on page
helen wyld
A
nglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire is home to a
collection of 30 tapestries, all purchased by Huttleston Broughton, First Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966)
in the early decades of the 20th century. The son of an
English industrialist and an American heiress, Lord Fairhaven
bought Anglesey Abbey in 1926 because of its proximity to
Newmarket racecourse and the quality of the local partridge
shooting. He never married, but filled the house with an outstanding collection of paintings, silver and other objets d’art.
As a collector he was unusual for his day: while his
contemporaries in Britain and America were avidly seeking
out medieval tapestries, he focussed on the 17th century. In
many cases he had little or no information on the manufacture
or provenance of what he bought, which makes the quality of
his acquisitions all the more impressive: among the previously
unidentified masterpieces of the collection are a rare mid17th-century Bruges tapestry, The Kindness of Rebecca; a panel
from a series of the History of Artemisia, made in Paris in the
1610s for the Duke of Savoy; and an armorial tapestry from a
vast series woven in Brussels for the Governor of the Spanish
Netherlands, the Marquez de Benavides, in the 1660s.1
But perhaps the most unusual items in Fairhaven’s collection are two tapestries he himself commissioned in the 1930s
from the Cambridge Tapestry Company. The first is an aerial
view of Anglesey Abbey with the Cambridgeshire landscape
stretching away beyond, dotted with local villages and landmarks all conscientiously labelled. The second is a large-scale
armorial panel, closely based on the Benavides armorial, but
this time with Fairhaven’s own arms. Both are woven in a
consciously traditional style, complete with monograms
in the galloons (plain outer edges) imitating those used by
the 17th-century Flemish workshops, and even with the
‘The Arms of Huttleston Rogers Broughton, First Lord Fairhaven’, Cambridge
Tapestry Company, . Tapestry, wool, silk and metal thread.
Anglesey Abbey,
The Fairhaven
INSIDE
Collection
SUMMER LIGHTNING: A GASPARD
DUGHET FOR OSTERLEY PARK
A painting attributed to
Gaspard Dughet (16151675), Landscape with
a Storm, was given to
Osterley by the estate of
Sir Denis Mahon (19102011). The picture had
been on loan to Osterley
since 2001.
Emile de Bruijn, Registrar
(Collections & Grants)
4 Lighting for spirit of place at Attingham
5 The signalman Baronet of Golden Cap
7 From kitchen to library at Owletts
8 Recovering The Wilderness at Ham
House
10 A 17th-century drawing at Ham House
11 Globalised lacquer
13 Ham House - a new history by
Christopher Rowell
14 An early American book at Blickling
16 Rebuilding Ralph Dutton’s library
18 Acquisitions
gilt-metal wrapped thread found in Fairhaven’s higherquality historic tapestries. Such details were far from difficult for the
Cambridge workshop to create: theirs was in fact one of the most
skilled tapestry restoration studios in the country.
The origins of the Cambridge Tapestry Company lie in the
village of Ickleford in Hertfordshire, where in 1900 Walter and
Marian Witter began teaching local children the skills of embroidery
and metal working, officially establishing themselves as Ickleford
Industries in 1904. A few years later the Witters became friends with
Gabriel Gonnet, who had trained at the Manufacture des Gobelins
in Paris, and he sent two men to Ickleford to teach tapestry weaving
and restoration.2 This coincided with a rapidly growing demand for
antique tapestries, mainly among American collectors, and in this
climate the restoration business naturally flourished. In 1916 new
premises were bought at 30 Thompson’s Lane, Cambridge, and
the Cambridge Tapestry Company was officially established. One
former employee remembers that during the 1920s there were as
many as 80 workers, mainly young women, in each of the company’s
two workrooms.
The two principal activities of the firm were the restoration of
tapestries and other textiles, and the production of new needlework
and embroidery. An early 16th-century tapestry, The Triumph of the
Virgin, now in the Burrell Collection, reveals the sophistication of
the company’s restoration work. This tapestry had been acquired
by the New York dealers French & Company and was sent to
Cambridge to be restored in 1936. A large area was missing from one
corner, and this was completely rewoven following a new cartoon
devised by one of the artists in the company’s Drawing Room, Mary
Rhodes, who would later recall with great pride her work on the
tapestry. In 1939 The Triumph of the Virgin was sold to Sir William
Burrell, the most prolific collector of medieval tapestries in Britain,
who only later realised the extent of the reweaving, and subsequent art historians have puzzled over the iconography of the new
section.3 This itself is a testament to the quality of the work, which
is extremely high, both in design and execution. One former weaver
recalled that to disguise new repairs the workers would rub burnt
umber into the surface to dull the colours, stuff old bits of wool into
a brass pipe with methylated spirits to remove fluffiness, flatten the
surface by beating with rusty chains, and paste robin starch onto the
back to stiffen the newly worked areas.4
A number of pieces of needlework produced by the company
are known, including a double-sided screen in the National Trust’s
collection at Lanhydrock in Devon. This has a design of a medieval
hunting scene based on a cartoon owned by descendants of the company’s founders Mr and Mrs Witter (see page 3).5 A similar screen
appeared in an exhibition in Sydney in 1938, which also included a
needlework picture of a figure on a beach, a modernist design unusual for the Cambridge Tapestry Company.6 Most of the company’s
products were very traditional in style and function. Large quantities
of needlework furniture covers were produced, similar in character
to the Lanhydrock screen, some of which were used on furniture
sold by the restoration studio and dealership run by Basil Dighton,
one of the Tapestry Company’s directors—who in 1923 was taken
to court for selling fake chairs. Numerous individual commissions
were also executed, such as a ceremonial standard for the County of
Bedfordshire made in 1932. At the Ickleford workshop, which was
maintained after the move to Cambridge in 1916, designs for canvas
work were produced and sold for amateurs to work from.
2
helen wyld
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
‘Anglesey Abbey’, Cambridge Tapestry Company, . Tapestry, wool, silk
and metal thread. Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection
Despite the range of activities undertaken in Thompson’s Lane
and at Ickleford, Lord Fairhaven’s commission of Anglesey Abbey in
1934 seems to have been the first entirely new tapestry woven by the
company. Lord Fairhaven may already have employed the workshop
to restore or alter some of his newly acquired collection: certain
pieces have been professionally altered to fit the sizes of various walls
at Anglesey Abbey. The design of the tapestry, with the house set in
the midst of a carefully delineated Cambridgeshire landscape, many
of whose landmarks had personal significance to Lord Fairhaven,
underlines his connections with the area he had chosen as his home.
A newspaper article published soon after the tapestry had been
completed highlights many such details:
‘The work has been carried out in similar technique used in the
17th and 18th century Flemish Tapestries, and though illustrating
certain modern buildings, much effort throughout has been made
to impart a feeling of antiquity, to be worthy of its position in
the historic home of its purchaser, which is shown in the centre,
standing near the villages of Lode and Quy. To a certain extent
“artist’s license” has been taken regarding the actual position of the
surrounding towns and villages, from each of which have been
gathered characteristic features—for example, the new University
Library of Cambridge, the new Jockey Club rooms at Newmarket
and the Village Hall at Lode, the latter having been presented by
Lord Fairhaven, and erected as a memorial to his father ... Regarding the drawing of the Abbey itself particularly, much assistance
to obtain the desired effect, was given by very beautiful aerial
photographs, lent by Lord Fairhaven. The wild fowl in the
foreground, not only have decorative value in the composition of
the picture, but are actually in existence in the grounds of Anglesey
Abbey, including the golden pheasant, seen perching on the right of
the picture, together with woodcock, wild duck, etc.; all of which
are carefully protected, and find sanctuary in this enviable spot.’7
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helen wyld
Interest in the tapestry was high, and it was even reported, and
illustrated, in The Times. One observer also noted that the design,
with its rolling landscape dotted with landmarks, was reminiscent of
the famous Sheldon tapestry maps, which had caused a sensation in
the world of English textiles in the preceding decades.
The designer of the tapestry (and of the later armorial woven for
Lord Fairhaven) was Clifford Barber, who joined the Cambridge
Tapestry Company as a young man having trained at the Cambridge
School of Art. He was the first locally-trained designer to join the
drawing office, and he stayed until the workshop closed in 1943. His
precise and skilful designs are perfectly in keeping with the collection of 17th-century tapestries at Anglesey Abbey, a reflection, no
doubt, of his experience in designing cartoons for missing sections
of old tapestries under restoration.
During the weaving of Anglesey Abbey, Lady Fetherstonhaugh
arranged to bring the Princess (later Queen) Mary to visit
Cambridge to see the work in progress. The future queen reportedly expressed great interest and this led, in 1935, to friends of King
George V commissioning the firm to design and weave a tapestry
of Windsor Castle to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of that year.
The Royal Jubilee Tapestry was again designed by Barber, this time
with advice from Professor A. J. B. Wace, Keeper of Textiles at the
Victoria & Albert Museum.8 The Jubilee tapestry originally hung in
the Guard’s Chamber at Windsor Castle. This project led to other
royal commissions, including a set of embroidered throne covers for
the coronation of George VI in 1937.
Despite these important commissions the 1930s saw a general
decline for the Cambridge Tapestry Company, partly due to the
impact of the 1929 crash on the international art trade. Lord
Fairhaven continued to take a keen interest, however, and in
1937 he commissioned another new tapestry—The Arms of Lord
Fairhaven (see page 1). The tapestry was modelled on one already in
the collection at Anglesey Abbey, The Arms of José Luis de Benavides,
Marques de Caracena mentioned above, replacing the Spanish nobleman’s arms with Fairhaven’s (even constructing for him a fanciful
pedigree), and playfully inserting a view of Anglesey Abbey into
the landscape below, in place of a view of an unidentified hilltop
town in the original. The two supporters, Mars and Minerva, are
retained, as are the cherubs supporting the central shield on wide
ribbons—their features, so the story goes, based on those of two of
the young women who wove the tapestry.
Like the Anglesey Abbey panel, The Arms of Lord Fairhaven is signed
with the company’s CTC monogram and dated. A new monogram,
in the form of two C s facing each other on either side of the shield
of the city of Cambridge, also appears on the lower galloon. This is
a direct imitation of the mark used by the Brussels tapissiers of two
B s, standing for Brabant and Brussels, on either side of the city’s
plain red shield, a mark which survives on the Benavides armorial.
Sadly the Arms of Lord Fairhaven was to be the last large-scale
tapestry made by the Cambridge Tapestry Company. Not long
afterwards a panel of Glamis Castle was begun for Queen Mary, but
only about an inch had been woven by 1942 when materials became
unobtainable. In 1939 much of the company’s stock had already
been sold to the Royal School of Needlework. Lord Fairhaven and
Professor Wace made efforts to keep the weavers together, and a
series of letters and accounts now held at Anglesey Abbey indicate
that the former had a financial interest in the company in its last
years, as summary accounts were submitted to him—showing an
3
‘Screen with Hunting Scene’, Cambridge Tapestry Company, c..
Embroidery, wool and canvas. Lanhydrock, The Robartes Collection
increasing loss. Business was officially stopped in 1941 with the
exception of jobs already in hand, and in March 1943 the premises at
Thompson’s Lane were vacated.
The two tapestries at Anglesey Abbey remain the most impressive memorial to the skill and enterprise of the Cambridge Tapestry
Company. The figurative designs, fine weave, and the use of silk
and gold and silver thread exemplify techniques abandoned by
most modern tapestry workshops, but familiar to the Cambridge
weavers from their restoration work. The resulting tapestries could
be dismissed as mere pastiches, but they also stand as a record of their
patron’s unusual sensitivity to the tapestry medium and his desire to
support a valuable local industry—not to mention the consummate
skill of the Cambridge weavers, much of whose restoration work
today no doubt goes unnoticed, as they would have intended.
Helen Wyld, Tapestry Curator, National Trust
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Catalogue entries on the tapestries at Anglesey Abbey can be found at: http://
www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk.
http://tw2091b.twsbroadband.co.uk/cambridgetapestry.htm. Accessed
11 April 2013. This website includes extensive information relating to the
Cambridge Tapestry Company.
Information kindly supplied by Sarah Foskett following her paper ‘The
Triumph of the Virgin: unravelling authenticities in a Glasgow Museums’
tapestry’ at the conference The Real Thing?, University of Glasgow, 6-7
December 2012.
Judy Cheney, ‘The Cambridge Tapestry Company’, Cambridgeshire Guild of
Spinners and Dyers Newsletter, 14 January 1988 (n.p.).
Inventory no. 883242; http://tw2091b.twsbroadband.co.uk/
cambridgetapestry.htm.
Described in the Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 1938.
Independent Press and Chronicle, 19 October 1934.
The Times, 9 January 1934, 27 July 1936; Clifford Barber, ‘A Little Known
Cambridge Industry’, The Cam, May 1937, pp. 136-8; Clifford Barber, articles
in The Master Key, September and August 1936; ‘Peerless skills faded away
during the war’, Cambridge Weekly News, 28 July 1988.
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4
LIGHTING FOR SPIRIT OF PLACE AT ATTINGHAM
At Attingham Park,
the National Trust’s
Regency
mansion
in Shropshire, the
Attingham Re-discovered Project has
been painstakingly
conserving, restoring
and re-presenting the
mansion’s
historic
interiors over the
last seven years. The
aim is not only to
improve historical
accuracy and conservation performance,
but also to increase
atmosphere and draw
out the property’s
Spirit of Place in order to deepen the visitor experience.
In addition to focusing on the grand state rooms, the
Attingham Re-discovered Project has recently been applying the same thoughtful approach to some of Attingham’s
catering and retail facilities, recognising that the same Spirit
of Place should ideally flow throughout all aspects of the
visitor experience. When some of those visitor facilities are
actually within the historic mansion itself, a seamless sense of
the property’s atmosphere is even more important, so that the
‘spell’ is not broken. The Butler’s Pantry, on the male side of
Attingham’s domestic offices, is a subtle re-evocation of the
butler’s historic rooms, combined with an atmospheric ‘shop
that doesn’t feel like a shop’.
The lighting is a critical element of achieving this
suspension of disbelief.
It comprises concealed
warm white LED lighting in cupboards to
subtly highlight the
products, LED strips
above furniture to
‘wash’ the walls, concealed LED spots, oil
lamps adapted to take
battery packs and coloured with gel to create
a yellow glow, battery
candles and carbon
filament bulbs under
coolie shades.
The products on
sale are from the normal Trust’s range, but
specifically chosen to reflect the duties and responsibilities of
the butler. Plastic packaging, sticky price labels and bar codes
are banned—instead the items have hand-written brown
tags tied on with string and are wrapped for the customer
in brown paper with co-ordinating tissue paper. The Butler’s
Pantry even has its own design device, adapted from a paper
embosser belonging to one of the Berwicks; ‘B’ for Berwick
and ‘B’ for Butler.
The Butler’s Pantry lighting scheme was masterminded
by Treehouse Media (who have experience in television and
lighting drama sets), working with the property’s Curator
and in-house electrician. A further collaborative project is
being undertaken in Attingham’s stable block, the Grooms’
Bookshop, opening March 2013.
Sarah Kay, Project Curator
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5
‘SEA FENCIBLES’ ALONG THE DORSET COAST
Lieutenant John Twisden, signalman Baronet of Golden Cap
G
nt images / joe cornish
crown copyright
olden Cap in west Dorset
through their centres. The rubble infill
is the highest cliff on the
contained bricks, nails, meat bones,
south coast. On its flat
buttons and worn coins of George III
summit are a line of four Bronze Age
[see bibliograhy, Papworth].
barrows. At the foot of its western
A search within the Admiralty
slope lie the ruins of medieval Stanton
records at Kew found account books,
St Gabriel chapel, abandoned in the
letters and log books for Golden Cap.
1840s. Thirty years earlier, a certain
They provided details of the signal
Lt. John Twisden had walked down
station, and also information about
the hill with his family and baptised
the officer in charge. These, together
his children there.
with other documentary sources,
In prehistory, Golden Cap had
revealed a fascinating personal story.
been a place to look up to, a skyline
John Twisden (1767-1853), born in
on which to build monuments to
Portsmouth, was the son of William
remember the ancestors. Two hunTwisden (1741-71) and Mary Kirk
dred years ago, the barrows were
(1744-71). William should have been
altered to create a signal station,
the 7th Baronet Twisden of Bradand John Twisden was put in charge
bourne in Kent, but he had been
to scan the seas for the expected
disinherited: his father, Sir Roger,
Napoleonic invasion.
disapproved of his marriage and
The soft geology of this stretch
gave the title and estate to Wilof coast is affected by rapid coastal
liam’s younger brother John Papillon
erosion, and the 4000-year-old
[Hatton and Hatton pp. 47-48].
barrows on Golden Cap are likely to
John’s father and mother both died
fall into the sea within the next 50
within six months of each other in
years. In 2011, therefore, National
1771. The orphan joined the Royal
Trust archaeologists carried out a
Navy when he was 12 to become the
rescue excavation. Three of the four
servant of Admiral Geary and Captain
Signal mast with flags and canvas balls
barrows were half-sectioned, and all
Clayton on HMS ‘Victory’. In 1781 he
contained evidence of the signal station. One mound had been
sailed to America and the West Indies and became an Able Seaman
flattened to create the foundation for a wooden signal house. Two
and then a Midshipman. By 1790 he was a Lieutenant, and in 1794
of the neighbouring barrows had been cut back to enable another
he was given the command of the gun vessel ‘Fearless’ and then in
hut to be built, and each of the three mounds had deep shafts cut
1795 of the armed vessel ‘Alfred’. By December 1796 he had been
posted to the newly constructed Golden Cup Signal (as it was
known at the time), a command that continued until 1814 [ADM
17/101]. Lt. Twisden was under the command of Captain Nick
Ingram, who was in charge of the whole Dorset coastal defence
network (the ‘sea fencibles’).
John had married Ann Hammond in 1791. Altogether they had
thirteen children, of whom seven were born while he was in charge
of the signal station—three of them were baptised in the now
ruined Stanton Chapel.
The war with France between 1793 and 1815 created a real danger
of coastal raids and invasion along the south coast. Therefore in
1794 a signalling system was devised, and a series of stations was
set up. Golden Cap was not originally a signal site, and does not
seem to have been in full operation until 1798.
The signal stations were usually built of wood and erected as
cheaply as possible—the Golden Cup station cost £109 [Clammer
2012 p.17]. One assumes that once put together, each station originally looked much the same as the next, although as time went
by each one may have been modified by the residents [Clammer
2012 p.21; ADM 1/3092]. Each station usually had a complement
View from Ridge Cliff looking west to Golden Cap, Dorset
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martin papworth
of four, a Lieutenant, a Petty Officer and two men [ADM 17/98].
Drawings for a typical signal house survive [ADM 106/3125].
It was a single-storey building with a front porch leading into
the Officer’s Dining Room and the adjoining Officer’s Bedroom.
Opposite the porch was a Men’s Room containing the Officer’s
Pantry. There was a central chimney stack, with fireplaces in the
officer’s dining room and the men’s room. On the left side of the
building was a smaller area with an outside access door where the
signalling gear was stored.
The alterations to the Golden Cap barrows were no doubt made
to use their bulk to screen the buildings from the south-westerly
winds. The exposed location of these outposts is described by
Lt. Gardner of Fairlight, a signal station near Hastings: ‘From
our elevated situation I have often been in dread for the safety of
the house, particularly in the SW gales … I’m astonished that the
house did not blow away’ [Hamilton and Laughton p.254].
The holes in the tops of the barrows are likely to have been dug
as foundations for the signal mast, which needed to be replaced
from time to time [Clammer 2012 p.22]. A yard arm was attached
to the mast; by using ropes and pulleys, a red flag, a blue pennant
and four canvas balls were arranged in various combinations along
the yard and mast to convey messages. Generally the code for the
6
Excavation of Napoleonic pottery from between two barrows at Golden Cap
In November 1814 the stations were closed and the men paid off.
The Lieutenant was expected to sell the stores for the Admiralty,
and then leave the station and the Navy [Clammer 2012 p.24].
John Twisden gained a two-week extension [ADM 17/101] and
then found new employment.
In 1815 Twisden was appointed clerk for the Great Western
Canal Company. The business established a navigable waterway from Taunton to Tiverton [Dodd pp.294-300]. In 1834 he
registered a patent for an improved canal lock, an idea which was
modified and used on the canal by the engineer James Green. In
1836 Twisden became superintendent, and by the 1840s the canal
was complete.
At this time John Twisden won a court battle that enabled him
to succeed to the title of 7th Baronet of Bradbourne. The 1851
census describes him as head of the family, living at Bradbourne
House in Kent with three of his daughters, who were born while
he was at Golden Cap. He died two years later at the age of 85.
The disinherited orphan, who went to sea aged 12, ended his days
as a baronet in his ancestral home [Hatton and Hatton p.48].
Martin Papworth, Archaeologist, South West region
Doghouse Hill excavation
signals was only known by the Lieutenant, who would instruct his
men to rig the mast with the appropriate message when necessary
[Clammer 2010 p.58].
Lt. Gardner describes the chief responsibilities of the commander. He was to ensure that both neighbouring stations were
constantly observed so as to relay signals ‘by night and by day’
to warn against threatened invasion by the French. In addition
to the signal mechanism, a ‘blue light’ and a fire beacon were to
be kept in constant readiness for night signals [Hamilton and
Laughton p.253]. Gardner acknowledged that the signal stations
were virtually useless in foggy conditions: ‘We had no relaxation
of duty except in a thick fog which sometimes would take place
for nine or ten days together, during which time we had only to
walk round the cliffs and along the seashore’ [Ibid].
For eighteen years Lt. Twisden created a home at Golden Cap.
He was expected to remain there at all times unless given leave
of absence [Clammer 2012 p.21]. It seems that Twisden, his wife
and children lived together with the crew in the small wooden
station.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Maeve and Colin Roberts for generously providing information from their extensive Napoleonic signal station
research.
Bibliography
Clammer, D., 2010, ‘The Sea Fencibles in Dorset’, Proceedings of the Dorset
Natural History and Archaeological Society 131, pp.53-63.
Clammer, D., 2012, ‘Naval Signal Stations on the Dorset Coast’, Proceedings of
the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 133, pp.17-25.
Dodd, D., 2006, ‘Boat Lifts of the Great Western Canal’, Journal of the
Railways and Canals Historical Society 35, Part 4, no. 194, pp.294-300.
Hamilton, Sir R. Vesy, and Laughton, J.Knox, 1906, Recollections of James
Anthony Gardner, The Navy Record Society.
Hatton, R.G. and Rev. C.H., 1945, ‘Notes on the Family of Twysden and
Twisden’, Archaeologia Cantiana 58, pp. 47-48.
Papworth, M., 2013, ‘Excavations at Thorncombe Beacon, Doghouse Hill and
Golden Cap on the Golden Cap Estate, West Dorset’, Proceedings of the Dorset
Natural History and Archaeological Society 134 (forthcoming)
National Archives (NA)
Admiralty Records (ADM)
ADM 1/3167-3178 Lieutenant in-letters
ADM 1/5052-55 Promiscuous Correspondence
ADM 9/6 1746 Service Record Lt. John Twisden
ADM 12 Indexes
ADM 17/101 Accounts Golden Cup station
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7
OWLETTS: FROM KITCHEN BACK TO LIBRARY
Owletts, the birthplace
and family home of the
architect Sir Herbert Baker
(1862-1946), reopened its
doors to visitors in April
2013 following the completion of a two-year major
building and conservation project. This elegant
Restoration-period house
—built in 1683—was
described by Baker as ‘a
small but typical homestead
of the seventeenth century
squire-farmers of Kent … not unworthy of preservation’ 1.
In his day Baker was one of Britain’s most prominent architects, with major commissions in the Empire and at home, but
today he is less well known, certainly in comparison with his
contemporary and friend Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944). He
is held in higher regard in South Africa, where he worked for
20 years from 1892—initially as the protégé of Cecil Rhodes
(1853-1902)—designing many of that nation’s government
buildings, as well as churches and private commissions.
Closer to home he is more likely to be remembered for one
of two things: either his controversial work in remodelling the
Bank of England (1921-42), which entailed the destruction of
much of the fabric of Sir John Soane’s work, or the fracturing of his relationship with Lutyens during their work together
designing the new seat of government in India at New Delhi
(1913-29). A dispute arose over the gradient on the central axis
on Raisina Hill—initially agreed by both—which restricted
the view of Lutyens’s Government House, and resulted in two
decades of ill-feeling. This is unfortunate, as Baker left a legacy
of fine buildings and structures, including his work for the
Imperial War Graves Commission, most notably the huge
cemetery at Tyne Cot (completed 1927) and the War Memorial
Cloister at Winchester College (1922-24).
In addition to the minor matter of the complete replacement
of the electrical, heating, security and fire systems, modernisation, structural repairs, and re-roofing, the refurbishment project
at Owletts afforded the opportunity to reinstate the Library
designed by Baker in the 1920s. He enlarged an existing room,
adding a canted bay window, and installed fitted bookshelves
and elegant columns inside. In the 1980s the Trust reluctantly
agreed to the Library’s conversion into a kitchen to ensure that
family occupation of Owletts continued. By returning the space
to its former use—and developing a new kitchen in adjacent
service areas—the greater part of the Owletts book collection,
one of only two architect’s libraries in Trust ownership 2, has
been returned to its former home, and has thus allowed visitors
the opportunity to gain a better appreciation of Baker and his
interests.
There are around 1400 books in total, and their primary
interest rests in their association with Sir Herbert.
They provide a visual guide
to his interests: works on
architecture nestle alongside titles on cricket (a
lifelong love), local history,
and biographies of some
leading figures of Empire.
Literature is well represented; Dickens, a fellow
resident of Kent and in likelihood personally known
to an earlier generation of
Bakers, is prominent. French poetry was also a passion of this
highly cultivated reader; when he first visiting Owletts in 1942
James Lees-Milne noted that Baker was reading such a title.3
During the refurbishment the property was re-let. It is a happy
consequence that David Baker, great-grandson of Sir Herbert,
has taken on the tenancy and will live in the house with his
family, continuing a family occupation dating back to 1794. It
was always an objective that the reinstated Library should be a
space that could be enjoyed by both visitors and tenant. This
decision ensured that the tenants would have a light, airy and
eminently liveable ground floor space from which they could
have some of the best views of the gardens. Furthermore, it
enables Owletts to have a genuine ‘lived in’ feel, rather than a
Trust-created one.
For this to work authentically it would have been counterproductive to have tried to recreate fully the taste and furnishings of Sir Herbert’s period of occupation. Instead, a mixed
approach has been taken. The distinctive mottled yellow
decorative scheme of the 1920s has been restored (informed
by paint analysis), and so have the majority of the bookcases.
Indigenous furnishings have been introduced from elsewhere in
the house, with a Victorian Chesterfield sofa and chaise longue
that were languishing in the cellar conserved and reupholstered
so they can be used by family and visitors.
However, sufficient scope has been left for the family to
add their own personal touches. We can be confident that this
approach would have been endorsed by Sir Herbert himself. In
his 1938 Memorandum of Wishes, he stated that ‘it is my desire
that the house should always be furnished as it is now with
things associated with the lives of its past and present owners,
rather than in the style of any particular period’. It is hoped that
visitors can get a flavour of what the room might have been in
his time, and thus gain insight into his life and work, and also
be fully aware that a new family are in residence and enjoying
life in a 17th-century house now fit for the 21st century.
Neil Walters, Curator, London and South East region
Sir Herbert Baker, Memorandum of Wishes, 1938.
The other is that of Erno Goldfinger at 2 Willow Road in Hampstead.
3
James Lees-Milne, Diaries, 1942-1945 (London: John Murray, 1998), 27
November 1942.
1
2
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
8
THE PLEASURE GARDEN ‘HIDDEN IN THE WOODS’
The recovery and recreation of The Wilderness at Ham House
T
nt images / john hammond
nt images / john hammond
he recreated 17thout in the familiar ‘double
century Wildercross’ layout. Trees and
ness at Ham House
hedges formed 16 compartis experiencing its own
ments and grass walks or
renaissance. The garden
avenues ran between them.
team and volunteers are
Unfortunately, no planting
working hard to revitalise
plans survive. The most
the area so that visitors
useful evidence is from
can walk, socialise, play
Batty Langley in his deand enjoy the plants and
scription of the garden in
wildlife much as the Duke
New Principles of Gardening
and Duchess of Lauderdale
(1728). Referring to the
did some 350 years ago. A
Quercus ilex (Holm Oak),
mark of the success of this
he writes: ‘There are many
venture is that the Wilderfine hedges of this plant, as
ness was recently voted the
well as a wonderful large
‘Ham House from the South’, by Hendrick Danckerts (1625-1680), c.1675-79
favourite feature at Ham
Standard growing at the
House.
End of the Terrace … from whose Acorns those hedges were raised.’
Ham House and Garden, located by the Thames in Richmond,
Thus it seems very likely that the hedges in the wilderness were of
Surrey, is a rare example and evocation of a 17th-century property
Holm Oak. Study of a contemporary plan,3 and Ham House from
and lifestyle. Built in 1610 by Thomas Vavasour, it became the home
the South, painted between 1675 and 1679 by Hendrick Danckerts,4
of William Murray, the former whipping boy of Charles I, in 1637.
suggests that the hedges would have been between three and five feet
The property was inherited by his daughter Elizabeth; with her
in height and possibly lower in the outer compartments.
second husband, the Duke of Lauderdale, she embarked on an
It appears that the compartments were not planted initially; they
ambitious project to extend and improve the house and to create a
may have been ‘enamelled’ with wild flowers. Mown grass serpentine
fine new garden in the early 1670s.
paths ran through the compartments, in four cases leading to small
John Slezer, an engineer and draughtsman, and Jan Wyck, an artist,
circular wooden summerhouses which were thatched and which
were commissioned to produce a plan for the garden in c.1671-72.1
possibly revolved. The paths are a very early example of irregular
In c.1674 the new garden was created: it had axial layouts, grass plats
paths, a departure from the geometric straight lines usually used at
and a geometric wilderness. The layout of the garden is shown in the
this time.
engraving of Ham House from Vitruvius Britannicus published in
The arrangement of the centre of the Wilderness can be seen in
1739 2, although in a much simplified form. This design was clearly a
the Danckerts painting. This shows a social gathering with citrus
statement of the Lauderdales’ desire to be leaders of fashion.
trees in box-like planters, eight statues and sgabello chairs (wooden
The Wilderness is about 1.2 hectares (3 acres) in area and was set
side chairs) with shell-shaped backs. Statues of Mercury and Fortuna
marked the entrance to the Wilderness.
Over the succeeding centuries the house and garden were not
always well cared for. In 1948 they were acquired by the National
Trust from the Tollemache family. The house was leased to the
Victoria & Albert Museum, and the gardens to the former Ministry
of Works, to be maintained by the Royal Parks.
The Wilderness had declined to the point where in 1953 it was
observed that ‘hidden in the woods are ancient trees of box, old
acacias, fine Spanish chestnuts and holm oaks’.5 Visitors to the
garden during this period also tell of the Rhododendrons and
Azaleas which grew in the Wilderness. Photographs of that time
show that elements of the original layout had survived, although the
hedge line had been lost.
In the late 1960s the restoration of the garden was mooted, and
a number of events turned this into a reality. At the exhibition
‘Destruction of the Country House 1875 to 1975’ at the Victoria
& Albert Museum a model showed how the 1670s layout could be
restored. Donations of £11,000 from an anonymous donor and
Ham House and grounds from the south, engraving from ‘Vitruvius
£5,000 from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust were made
Britannicus’, 1739
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
towards the improvement of the garden. Finally the National Trust
decided that the restoration of the garden would make an important
contribution to European Architectural Heritage Year 1975. The
garden restoration project was approved, and a contract was awarded
to Notcutts Landscaping to carry out the work.
The Slezer and Wyck plan of c.1671-72 was the basis for the
restoration. All the old mature trees and shrubs were removed, and
the walks were planted with Acer campestre (Field Maple) trees and
Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam) hedges. Initially the compartments
were not planted. Sgabello chairs, flanked by planters, were installed
in the middle of the Wilderness in 1983. In 1985 new summerhouses
were built in their four compartments—they were not thatched, but
tiled with wooden shingles, and they did not revolve. In 1998 over
250 shrubs and 4,000 bulbs were planted, all species that might have
been used in 1690. The statues of Mercury and Fortuna returned to
the north entrance of the Wilderness in 2003.
The past three years have seen the start of a further period of
restoration in order to create a more authentic and enjoyable experience for visitors. Major works have included the ‘shredding’ of the
field maples along the walks (this involves the removal of lower limbs
to create a more fastigiate cathedral-like shape to the avenues), the
re-turfing of the walks, and the realignment of some of the serpentine paths. Dieback in the hornbeam hedges has been addressed by
the installation of an irrigation system and a programme of feeding
and replanting.
With the kind assistance of the Royal National Rose Society, the
RHS and Mottisfont Abbey, all the plants in the Wilderness have
been identified and labelled, a plant data base and planting plans
created, and comprehensive information produced for use by garden
guides. Based on advice from John Sales, former Head of Gardens
at the National Trust (he was instrumental in the restoration of the
gardens in the 1970s), a staged process is under way to reduce the
height of the overgrown holly trees within the compartments.
Significant numbers of herbaceous plants and shrubs have been
planted in the summerhouse compartments. Wild flowers and
bulbs have been planted in others to replicate the possible original
‘enamelling’. There are now more than 100 examples of period trees,
shrubs, perennials and bulbs within these areas. Most have intriguing
9
View of the south front showing the sgabello chairs
historical herbal, medicinal, culinary or economic uses, and a
detailed guide to these is now available. Who would not be fascinated by ‘Bladder Senna’, ‘Monks’ Pepper’ and ‘Prickly Pettigrue’?
But the Wilderness remains a work in progress, and much is still
to be done. The garden team is hoping to propagate or find new
or replacement plants. The future of the maturing field maples has
to be resolved. The prospect of reducing the scale of one mile of
hornbeam hedging has to be faced. And new approaches to grass
maintenance in the Wilderness are needed to counter problems
from shade, soil conditions and wear, especially with the introduction of 364-day opening in 2014.
The Wilderness centre with two sgabello chairs
Statues and plinths have been commissioned, and the sgabello
chairs are being refurbished or replaced to restore the centre of
the Wilderness to the way it was in the Danckerts painting. Who
knows? Maybe one day the summerhouses will be thatched and
made to revolve again.
Barry Sorrell, Horticultural Volunteer
1
2
3
4
5
The Wilderness with one of the summerhouses
This plan is displayed at Ham House in the Library Closet
This engraving is displayed in the Library Closet at Ham House
The ‘Helmingham plan’ of c.1730 was found at Helmingham Hall, Suffolk in
1993
This painting hangs in the White Closet of Ham House and is recorded as
being in the house in the inventory of 1679
Gladys Taylor, Old London Gardens, 1953
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10
NEITHER PENCIL NOR INK
A 17th-century carpenter’s ‘drawing’ for Ham House
Ham House, the
Thames-side villa of
the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale, was
transformed between
1672 and 1676. The
gentleman architect
William
Samwell
effectively created a
fashionable doublepile house by adding
to the Jacobean Hplan an entirely new
range on the south, or
garden, side. Viewed
from the river, however, little appeared
to have changed.
Roger North noted that this was as a result ‘... of the skill and
dexterity in managing the alterations which in my opinion
are the best I have seen. For I doe not perceive any part of the
old fabrick is taken down, but the wings stand as they were
first sett, only behind next the garden they are joined with.’
North particularly admired the contrast between the
north and the south fronts and the seemly way that at Ham
the old work was seen before the new. As a principle, he
considered it more satisfactory to be able to appreciate first
what was ancient and venerable, before enjoying the surprise
afforded by a handsome new interior or secondary façade. The
converse—an ostentatious new exterior and a crumbling
reality beyond—could only disappoint the visitor.
Parts of the old fabric did of course need to be taken down
during the course of the alterations, as a quick analysis of
the structure shows and as the extensive building accounts
confirm: the surviving Jacobean towers were reduced in
height, new openings were made to enable intercommunication between the two parts of the house, and the roofs
covering them were carefully fitted together. Among the
principal craftsmen, or ‘Master Workmen’, who undertook
this work, the bricklayer, John Burnell, charged £5 ‘ffor
pulling down a great window in ye middle of ye house’,
while the carpenter, Humphrey Owen, charged for ‘2 men 3
dayes a makeing good ye rooffe between ye old house and ye
new building at ye west end’.
These alterations are fully described in the forthcoming
book Ham House: 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage (see
details on p13). During the research for this a careful study was
made of the surviving building accounts in the Buckminster
Park Archive. Having transcribed Humphrey Owen’s ‘Bill
for his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale 1672’, paid on 2 May
1674, I was about to return it to its archive box when my
attention was caught by a series of faint lines scored on the
back page, thrown into
relief by the low winter
light filtering through
the window blind. There
is no reason to suppose
that this rough, incised
drawing made with a
blunt point is not contemporary with the bill.
It is not clear exactly
what it represents, but
it may have been made
in order to visualise, and
then count, how many
lengths of timber were,
or had been, needed
for a particular task. As
such it is a rare survival
of an ephemeral type of drawing illustrative of a thought
process. In one corner of the drawing the inscription ‘In all
28 30 29’ suggests that three attempts were made at counting
the number of transverse and diagonal lines.
If not made by the master carpenter Humphrey Owen,
might it have been made by John Lacey, the measurer, whose
job it was to ‘cast up’ the bills submitted by the different
trades? He recommended to Samwell, who scrutinised and
attested the bills, what sums should be abated, deducted and
paid. It was only then that Arthur Forbes, the paymaster,
who regularly received large sums from the Lauderdales’
steward for the purpose, settled the accounts.
Does the drawing indicate a floor- or roof-frame, or
perhaps the lines of the risers or supporting timbers for a
staircase? The new stairs at the west end of the house might
be the most obvious candidate, but, if each line represents a
step, the number and pattern do not match with this structure. The first-floor gallery created with the opening of the
Hall ceiling might have been another candidate, but this
work was undertaken at a later stage. It is difficult to relate it
to any surviving feature at Ham, though, unlike that of the
joiner, the carpenter’s work is usually hidden behind surface
finishes. Some of the carpenter’s enabling work took the form
of temporary structures such as scaffolding towers or cover
buildings—referred to as ‘shades’ in the accounts—beneath
which the joiners and masons could work, or timber could
be stored. In addition to their work in the house, Owen’s
bill shows that he and his men worked simultaneously on
a number of ancillary buildings, among them the stables,
dairy, washhouse, and granary.
I would be delighted to hear from readers of ABC who
have further thoughts about this slight but intriguing
drawing.
David Adshead, Head Curator
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11
GLOBALISED LACQUER – A BAROQUE ENTHUSIASM
Javanese tables in pride of place at Dyrham Park and Ham House
nt images / andreas von einsiedel
Javanese rectangular lacquer table, NT452980 (at front), in the Balcony
Room at Dyrham Park
nt images / john hammond
T
he baroque style was very accommodating to exotic
influences, and Asian porcelain, textiles and lacquer
were used with gusto in late 17th- and early 18th-century
interiors. Although the oriental influence on European interiors has long been recognised, we are only gradually acquiring a
better understanding of the trade and production networks which
enabled this early-modern globalism to thrive.1 One phenomenon from this period that has remained relatively enigmatic is
the short-lived popularity of Javanese lacquer. In this article I will
attempt to define and identify the small group of Javanese lacquer
tables dating from the late 17th- and early 18th-century which
survive in a few British and German public collections.
Even the identification of these tables as ‘Javanese’ is not
entirely certain, as nothing appears to be known about how they
were imported.2 However, the use of floral and animal patterns
carved and gilded in high relief against a red lacquer or painted
background, as can be seen in these pieces, was in fact practised
on Java. Moreover, while some of the painted motifs appear to
be Chinese, others have also been identified on Javanese batik
fabrics.3 It has also been suggested that the ultimate source of such
tables was the state of Arakan on the Bay of Bengal (in present-day
Myanmar).4
The Javanese pieces discussed here seem to have all come to
Europe towards the end of the 17th and the beginning of the
18th century. At this time the Dutch East India Company had a
well-established global trade network, with the city of Batavia on
Java as its Asian hub. Presumably these items of furniture were
imported either officially or privately through the Dutch East
India Company, although no evidence of this has yet come to
light. In the case of Dyrham Park there was certainly a strong
Dutch connection. William Blathwayt (?1649-1717), the builder of
the house, had spent extended periods in Holland, spoke Dutch,
was familiar with Dutch painting and collected Delft blue and
Rectangular Javanese lacquer table raised on a European japanned base,
NT1140034 (between the chairs), and a related square tray or low table,
NT (on top of the cabinet), in the Duchess’s Private Closet at Ham
House.
white glazed earthenware. This ‘hollandophile’ outlook, as well
as his efficiency as a civil servant and minister, made Blathwayt
useful to the Dutch King William III, who kept him on as
Secretary at War following the Glorious Revolution in 1688. In
William’s employ Blathwayt continued to make visits to Holland,
where he had his own apartment in the palace of Het Loo.
In the 1703 Dyrham inventory the table now thought to be
Javanese is simply described as ‘a large tea table’ and is listed among
the furniture in the Balcony Room, an anteroom or sitting room
leading into Blathwayt’s private apartment (inv. no. NT452980).
The low rectangular table stands on six carved, red lacquer and
gilded cabriole legs, which are linked by floor-level stretchers and
by gilded fretwork aprons. The black lacquer top has a pie-crust
rim.
A similar table has survived at Ham House (inv. no. NT1140034),
but there it has been raised on a European barley-twisted and ballfooted base. Presumably it was felt that these tables, originally
made in the context of the floor-sitting culture of Java, needed to
be heightened to fit in with the habits of chair-sitting Europeans.
At the same time this is also an almost symbolic appropriation of
Asian material culture into a European setting. As at Dyrham,
the Javanese table at Ham seems to have functioned as part of the
serving and drinking of tea, at this time still a relatively exotic and
expensive commodity. In the 1683 Ham inventory it was listed in
Rectangular Javanese lacquer table raised on a German japanned base,
SPSG IV 2844, at Schloß Charlottenburg. ©Henriette Graf/Stiftung
Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin Brandenburg
the Duchess of Lauderdale’s Private Closet, together with a set of
British pseudo-Asian side chairs. Both the table and the chairs
were described as ‘Japanned’, a confusing term which could either
indicate genuine Asian lacquer or European imitation-lacquer.
Also in this room is a small Javanese lacquer tray or table, with
four short feet connected by gilded fretwork aprons, its black top
with a concave rim indented at the corners and decorated with a
landscape (inv. no. NT1140033).
The Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale were close to King Charles
II, and their wealth and connections allowed them to rebuild and
refurbish Ham in an extremely lavish manner during the 1670s.
Their taste might well be labelled ‘international baroque’, since
they not only employed foreign craftsmen resident in England but
also shipped in large quantities of furniture and furnishings from
France and Holland. Ham still contains a number of pieces of
east Asian lacquer from that period, often, like the Javanese table,
adapted or incorporated into European pieces of furniture.
A raised Javanese lacquer table can also be seen in a delightful painting depicting a family at tea dated to about 1680 and
attributed to Roelof Koets II (c.1650-1725) which came up at
auction in Amsterdam in 2004.5 The table is clearly shown to have
gilded red lacquer cabriole legs, with red, black and gold japanned
legs linked by an X-shaped stretcher added below, and with a
black and gold lacquer top with a pie-crust rim. The picture also
illustrates how such tables were actually used, as splendid
centrepieces for the almost ceremonial consumption of tea. Clearly
visible on the tabletop are the black lacquer or japanned tea caddy,
the silver sugar pot and the white ceramic slop bowl. The husband
and wife both hold earless porcelain teacups and saucers. Interestingly it is the husband who proudly wields the Yixing stoneware
teapot, while a richly dressed toddler grasps the rim of the table.
Although this type of table does not seem to have survived in
public collections in The Netherlands, one example without a
European base recently came up at auction in Amsterdam.6
Two tables which are very similar to the Ham example survive
at Schloß Charlottenburg in Berlin, where they are currently
placed in a bedchamber (inv. nos. SPSG IV 2843 and 2844).7
Little is known about how and for whom they were originally
acquired, but they would seem to date from the time of Friedrich
Hohenzollern, Elector of Brandenburg and King in Prussia
12
(1657-1713), and his second wife Sophie Charlotte von Hannover
(1668-1705). The palace was originally built as a relatively small
country retreat for Sophie Charlotte in 1695-99, but following the
elevation of her husband to first King in Prussia it was extended
in 1701-02. The furnishings included large quantities of Asian
ceramics (especially in the magnificent purpose-built Porcelain
Cabinet) and many pieces of lacquer or imitation-lacquer furniture. Like the table at Ham, the two rectangular Javanese tables at
Charlottenburg were raised on European-made bases. They also
have similar pie-crust rims and one of them has carved and gilded
cabriole legs and fretwork aprons (the second table appears to have
been altered as part of a subsequent restoration).
There are two further Javanese tables at Charlottenburg, with
pie-crust rims but with different, drum-shaped bases. The one
in the Porcelain Cabinet is round and covered with smooth red
lacquer decorated with landscapes in gold (inv. no. SPSG IV 3398),
whereas the one in the Audience Chamber is octagonal and has
panels of carved and gilded relief as well as decorations in gold on
smooth red lacquer (inv. no. SPSG IV 3328). Both were raised on
European baroque feet.
A similar drum-shaped table, covered with smooth black
lacquer decorated in gold, again with European feet and dated to
around 1680, is in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe (inv.
no. D237). This table was formerly in the state apartments of the
Residenz at Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, and has been associated
with the ‘Turkish booty’ amassed by Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm
of Baden-Baden (1655-1707) during his numerous campaigns
against the Ottoman Empire in the 1680s and 1690s. However, it
has been suggested that this table was not actually a spoil of war,
but is more likely to have been acquired through the trade or as
sotheby’s
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
Painting depicting a Dutch family taking tea around rectangular Javanese
lacquer table raised on a European base, . x cm, attributed to Roelof
Koets II (c. -).
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
a gift, and rather than being a trophy was simply a modish and
prestigious item of furniture used at Friedrich Wilhelm’s Residenz,
which was built between 1697 and 1707.8
Two final and particularly charming examples of drum-shaped
Javanese tables can be found in the Porcelain Cabinet of the dolls’
town ‘Mon Plaisir’, in the Schloßmuseum in Arnstadt, Thüringen.
This extraordinary collection of 82 miniature rooms and scenes
was created by Fürstin Auguste-Dorothea von SchwarzburgArnstadt (1666-1751), probably with the assistance of the sculptor
and designer Heinrich Christoph Meil (1701-1738), at her dower
house Augustenburg during the first few decades of the 18th
century. Although these tiny tables are most likely imitationlacquer pieces, they provide yet another glimpse of the use of
Javanese lacquer in the baroque interior.9
Emile de Bruijn, Registrar (Collections & Grants)
1
2
See for instance Anna Jackson and Amin Jaffer (eds.), Encounters: the meeting
of Asia and Europe, 1500-1800, London, V&A Publications, 2004; Michael
Snodin and Nigel Llewellyn (eds.), Baroque: Style in the Age of Magnificence,
1620-1800, London, V&A Publications, 2009; and Giorgio Riello, Cotton: the
Fabric that Made the Modern World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2013.
Before 1990 the Victoria & Albert Museum looked after Ham House, and in
the museum’s archives various experts’ opinions about the origins of this table
have been recorded, including Japan, the Ryūkyū� Islands and Java. I am very
13
grateful to Kate Hay, curator in the Department of Furniture, Textiles and
Fashion at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, for this information.
3
See Karl-Heinz Mittenhuber, Die restaurierte ‘Türkentrommel’ in FränkishCrumbach und weitere Trommeltische aus Java, Fränkish-Crumbach, 1989, pp.
32, 40 and 55.
4
See Jan Veenendaal, ‘Furniture in Batavia’, in T.M. Eliëns (ed.), Domestic
Interiors at the Cape and in Batavia 1602–1795, The Hague and Zwolle,
Gemeentemuseum and Waanders, 2002, p. 24.
5
Sold at auction at Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 2 November 2004, lot 58. See
also file 116428 in the archive of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische
Documentatie, The Hague. (http://www.rkd.nl/rkddb/dispatcher.aspx?action
=search&database=ChoiceImages&search=priref=116428). I am very grateful
to Birgit Boudewijns at Christie’s, Amsterdam, for this information, and
to Christine Lambrechtsen at Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, for the image of the
painting.
6
Christie’s, Amsterdam, sale 26-27 March 2013, lot 424.
7
I am very grateful to Dr Henriette Graf, Curator of Decorative Arts and
Furniture, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg,
for providing me with information about the Javanese tables at Schloß
Charlottenburg.
8
See Ernst Petrasch, et al. (eds.), Die Karlsruher Türkenbeute: Die ‘Türkische
Kammer’ des Markgrafen Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden; die Türkische
Curiositaeten’ von Baden-Durlach, Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmusem,
and München, Hirmer Verlag, 1991, cat. 323, pp. 390-392. Apart from the
Charlottenburg examples this catalogue entry also lists an additional drumshaped Javanese table which has been preserved in the church of FränkischCrumbach, Odenwald (see also note 3 above).
9
See Monika Kopplin (ed.), Schwartz Porcelain: Die Leidenschaft für Lack und
ihre Wirkung auf das Europäische Porzellan, München, Hirmer Verlag and
Münster, Museum für Lackkunst, 7 December 2003-27 June 2004, cat. 42
(p. 95).
Ham House: Four Hundred Years of
Collecting and Patronage
Christopher Rowell
Built in 1610 during the reign of James I and remodelled in 1637-39 by
the future first Earl of Dysart, Ham House and its gardens have endured
through centuries of English history while remaining representative
of the styles and culture of the original inhabitants. It is one of the few
places where Caroline decor—as developed by the architect Inigo Jones,
and familiar to Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck—can still be
appreciated.
To mark the 400th anniversary of one of the most famous houses in
Europe, eighteen internationally recognized scholars join National Trust
curators in documenting the history of Ham House and its collections.
The new discoveries, reattributions, and revelations of the contributors
are accompanied by specially commissioned
2
photography of the house and its contents.
An appendix includes complete transcriptions of house inventories for the 17th, 18th,
and 19th centuries, published here for the
first time.
Yale University Press
Hardback
400pp, 279 x 241mm
250 colour images, 100 bw illustrations
£75
Buy online at the National Trust shop
http://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk/
THE GREEN CLOSET AT HAM HOUSE:
A CHARLES I CABINET ROOM
AND ITS CONTENTS
C H R I S T O P H E R ROW E L L
T
he collection of cabinet paintings and miniatures in the Green
Closet at Ham is exceptional both for its size and its setting (figs
9, 10 and 11). There is nowhere else in Britain where one can
appreciate the subtle beauty of an early seventeenth-century Kunstkammer,
still thickly hung – like a veritable picture gallery in miniature – with
tiers of subject pictures, landscapes, small portraits and miniatures. Around
1980, the Victoria and Albert Museum removed all the Green Closet’s
miniatures, and most of the cabinet pictures, to a separate Museum Room,
where they were housed in modern steel showcases. The Green Closet’s
restoration by the National Trust in 1995–6 revived its spirit as the
repository of 300 years of one family’s collecting (fig. 12).1 It was part of
the original house, completed in 1610 by Sir Thomas Vavasour,2 but its
transformation was due to another prominent courtier, William Murray
(c.1600–55), a life-long adherent of the Stuart monarchy, who was created
1st Earl of Dysart during the interregnum in 1651. A fellow Scot and
childhood friend of Charles I, Murray graduated from service as Charles’s
‘whipping boy’ – a surrogate who was punished when his royal master
deserved it – to become a Gentleman of the Bed Chamber. His uncle,
Thomas Murray, became Secretary to the Prince of Wales in 1617.3
William Murray was a close confidant of the prince and one of a small
coterie of connoisseurs who accompanied Charles in 1623 to woo the
daughter of Philip III, the Spanish Infanta, Maria Ana (the future Holy
Roman Empress). The visit to Spain failed to secure a marriage alliance
but had important consequences for Prince Charles, Murray and their
friends, who returned to England with a love of Venetian High Renaissance
painting, and of Titian in particular.4
Privileged access to Philip IV’s collection left the future Charles I with
a determination to emulate its riches in England. As king, he propelled
himself to the pinnacle of European collecting via the acquisition en bloc
of the Gonzaga pictures from Mantua in 1627–8, and set about adapting
the royal palaces for their reception. Commissions were sought abroad –
from Bernini, for example – and foreign artists, most famously Rubens
and Van Dyck, were attracted to London. Among them was the German
Franz Cleyn, or Francis Clein (1582–1658),5 who had served as court
14
Fig. 10 The Green Closet: the west wall, after restoration and re-hanging in 1995–6.
Fig. 11 The Green Closet: the east wall, after restoration and re-hanging in 1995–6.
painter to Christian IV of Denmark, and who took over the Mortlake
tapestry factory in 1625. Clein was probably involved in the creation of
the State Apartment at Ham (1637–9): the fixed overdoor paintings and
overmantels in the present Hall Gallery and North Drawing Room were
described as ‘by Decline’ in the 1683 inventory, while the capriccio wall
and ceiling paintings in the Green Closet (on paper adhered to the plaster
cove and ceiling) are also attributed to him and his atelier.6
have collaborated in work for the Crown, had travelled in Italy and
elsewhere in Europe). The royal craftsmen of the King’s Works who are
documented as working at Ham were Thomas Kinsman, the plasterer, and
Matthew Goodricke, the house painter and gilder. The joiner, Thomas
Carter, may have been connected to other carpenters with the same
surname who were employed by the Crown.7 Inigo Jones is known to
have supervised royal craftsmen at Chelsea House, the London seat of
Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, so it is likely that he – rather
than Clein (who is not known to have designed interiors) – was the
eminence grise in the interior decoration of Ham, if indeed there was a
guiding hand.8 Given his international experiences, his royal connections
and his undoubted aesthetic interests, perhaps Murray was able to work
alone with the men from the King’s Works.9 It is conceivable, however,
that Jones was involved, given the sophistication of the plaster and
woodwork, especially the overmantel in the North Drawing Room.
Another candidate might be the mysterious ‘D.C.’ who checked and
THE HAM STATE APARTMENT AND THE
GENESIS OF THE GREEN CLOSET
Fig. 9 The Green Closet, after restoration and re-hanging in 1995–6.
THE GREEN CLOSET AT HA M HOUSE: A CHARLES I CABINET R OOM AND ITS CONTENTS
Murray employed royal craftsmen and designers who were then
transforming British architecture, interior decoration and the display of
collections. Their approach was based upon sophisticated continental
lines (both Clein and the royal architect, Inigo Jones, who are known to
THE GREEN CLOSET AT HA M HOUSE: A CHARLES I CABINET R OOM AND ITS CONTENTS
15
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
14
THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Investigating an early American book at Blickling Hall
A
NTPL HPPA-42505
Norfolk country house may
minister to Salem Church, where he
seem an unlikely place to
devised the ‘Salem Covenant’ still in
find links to 17th-century
use today. He also wrote a popular
European settlers in America. But
account of the colony, New-Englands
one Blickling bible holds evidence of
Plantation, which immediately went
their continuing relationships with
through three editions, but he died
family in England, and a reminder
of a fever in August 1630.
that despite the hardships of conJohn Higginson also trained for
temporary sea travel, early emigrants
the ministry and worked as a schoolto New England were not destined to
master in Guilford, Connecticut.
remain there.
In 1641 he married Sarah, daughter
The Puritan John Eliot (1604-90)1
of Henry Whitfeld or Whitfield
sailed to America in 1631 and spent
(1590/91-1657), whose home—the
more than 40 years as a missionary
oldest stone house in New England
in eastern Massachusetts, preaching
—is now the Henry Whitfield State
in the local Algonquin dialect. He
Museum. Whitfield had resigned
also led a campaign which resulted
his living at Ockley, Surrey, in 1638
in an ordinance from Parliament ‘for
and emigrated with several families
the advancement of civilization and
from his parish. A man of means, he
christianity among the Indians’ in
purchased land for the township of
July 1649 and the foundation of the
Menumkatuck (renamed Guilford)
first Protestant missionary society
and served as unpaid minister for 11
—now known as the Society for the
years. The advent of the CommonPropagation of the Gospel (SPG)—to
wealth brought the prospect of reliraise funds for local ‘Commissioners
gious change at home, and Whitfield
The title page of the Eliot Bible
for Indian Affairs’.
returned to England in 1650, settling
With the help of a native speaker, John Sassamon, Eliot spent
at Winchester. But he maintained his connections with and interest
ten years translating the bible into Massachusett Algonquin.
in New England: he became a member of the SPG and wrote a
The SPG agreed to support its publication and sent out a press,
pamphlet The Light Appearing More and More Towards the Perfect
type fonts and a printer, Marmaduke Johnson, to assist the local
Day to publicise the work of Eliot and his fellow missionary Thomas
Cambridge printer Samuel Green. The New Testament appeared in
Mayhew.
1661 and the Old Testament and metrical psalms in 1663. This was the
John Higginson succeeded his father-in-law as minister at
earliest example of the translation and printing of the complete
Guilford, where he also learnt to preach in the local language. In
bible in a new language for evangelical work, and the first bible in
1659 he too set off for England, but a storm drove his ship into
any language printed in North America; no English-language bible
Salem harbour and he accepted the post of pastor there, which he
was printed there until the second half of the 18th century.
held until his death in 1708. It is unsurprising to find that his family
Around 1,000 copies of the ‘Eliot Indian Bible’ were printed, of
were later involved in the Salem witch trials: his son John (b. 1646)
which at least 20 were sent immediately to England; these generally
was a magistrate, while his daughter, Ann Dolliver, was put on trial
have an additional English title page and dedication to Charles II.
in 1692 but eventually freed.2
Many of the surviving copies have inscriptions to Eliot’s friends and
John’s younger brother, Francis (1618-1673)—the intended recipisupporters: the publication was perhaps intended as much to attract
ent of the bible—taught in Cambridge, then returned to Europe in
funding as to enlighten the new converts.
1639 to study at Leiden. There were hopes that he would return to
A contemporary inscription on the endpapers of the Blickling
teach at Harvard, but instead Francis chose the English church. He
bible indicates that this was probably one of those sent straight to
was appointed rector at Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland in 1648 and
England:
remained there until his death, although he was suspended from
‘For my loving brother Mr Nathaniel Whitfeld to be sent unto
his living for a short time for refusing to subscribe to the Act of
my loving Brother Mr Francis Higginson Minister at Kirby Stephen
Uniformity.3 Francis was an active opponent of local Quakers and
in Westmorland. Enquire of Mr Nathaniel Whitfeld at ye navy
wrote a 1653 pamphlet decrying their ‘irreligion’. Despite their
office he lives at Bell Court in fish street hill. Shew this also to my
physical separation, links between the family clearly remained
brother Mr Charles Higginson’.
strong: John’s son, another Francis (1660-1684?), returned to
The anonymous sender can be identified as John Higginson
England to live with his uncle and was schooled at nearby Sedbergh
(1616-1708), minister of Salem. John was the eldest son of the
before going to Cambridge.4
Leicestershire clergyman Francis Higginson (1586?-1630), who was
John Higginson directed the bible to Francis through his brotherappointed minister by the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629.
in-law Nathaniel Whitfield (1629-1696) in London. Nathaniel emiThe family emigrated that summer and Francis became assistant
grated with his parents in 1639 and it is not clear when he returned
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
nt images / nadia mackenzie
to England, although it was before 1657 when he witnessed Henry’s
will in Winchester. There is no record of him returning with his
father in 1650, but Henry was accompanied by Nathaniel’s sister,
Dorothy (1619-1654) and her husband Samuel Desborough (16191690), who became parliamentary commissioner in Scotland.
From 1663-1692 Nathaniel was a clerk in the Navy Office. As a
contemporary of Samuel Pepys, he receives three brief mentions
in the diary, the first of which describes a moonlight boat trip to
inspect docked ships (12 July 1663). Given his family’s religious and
political background, this work was probably not without difficulty
for Nathaniel: on 25 June 1665 Pepys is troubled on hearing of an
attempt to make Whitfield ‘incapable of serving the King’. But he
clearly survived this, and was appointed Chief Clerk in 1674.
Nathaniel’s address, Fish Street Hill, is now the site of the monument to the Great Fire, which started in the next street on 2 September 1666. He was apparently still living there that June, when
a marriage licence was issued for Nathaniel Whitfeld, New Fish
Street, and Sara Biggs of Portsmouth.5 Pepys mentions that Fish
Street was destroyed, but the bible was presumably passed to Francis
well before the conflagration!
Charles Higginson (1628-1677?), the third brother in John’s
inscription, was a sailor who had lived in New Haven, Connecticut
until at least 1649 but was now in Stepney and described as in the
Jamaica trade. Charles had no apparent naval connection, but two
elder brothers, Timothy (d.1653) and Samuel (d.1664), commanded
state ships during the Commonwealth; all three died at sea.
Another endpaper contains the inscription: ‘Daniel Whitfeld
March 20th 65’. More research is needed to identify Daniel, who
15
A view down the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall, Norfolk
seems not to be a direct relative of Henry Whitfield. The answer may
lie in Cumbria: parish records show there were Whitfields—probably unrelated to the settlers—living near Kirkby Stephen in the
1660s, so Francis Higginson may simply have passed the book to a
parishioner. I would be interested to hear from any Whitfield family
historians who can offer a likely identification.
This Eliot Bible eventually passed into the library of Sir
Richard Ellys (1682-1742) of Nocton, Lincolnshire. Ellys was a keen
biblical scholar who owned over 40 bibles in numerous versions and
languages, as well as many critical texts and commentaries. We
do not yet know how he acquired the book, although a surviving
collection of annotated sale catalogues 6 could hold the answer. But
it may have been a gift: Ellys was a firm Calvinist—he was a leading
member of the nonconformist Princes Street congregation—and is
thought to have had strong links with American settlers through his
friends in London’s dissenting congregations.
Ellys’s links with New England were certainly strong enough to
make his name known there: it seems that Harvard University was
keen to acquire his collection to supplement its young library, and
the Blickling collection still contains a presentation copy to Ellys of
Harvard’s first library catalogue7, presumably sent as an encouragement to donate funds or books. Attempts were also made to acquire
the library for English dissenting institutions, but when Ellys died,
this important library was inherited by the Hobart family and came
to Blickling.8
Records for this and other books in the Trust’s collection—
including details of provenance and binding—can be found on
Copac: http://copac.ac.uk/ and our collections website http://www.
nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/
Nicola Thwaite, Assistant Libraries Curator (North)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The inscription on the endpapers of the Blickling bible
See J. Frederick Fausz, ‘Eliot, John (1604-1690)’, Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. ODNB also contains
articles on Francis Higginson the elder, Henry Whitfield and Richard Ellys.
See the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription project
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/home.html
B. Nightingale, The Ejected of 1662 in Cumberland & Westmorland,
Manchester University Press, 1911, pp.1075-1089
T.W. Higginson, Descendants of the Rev. Francis Higginson … Privately
printed, 1910
Allegations for Marriage Licences issued by … the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Harleian Society publications, v.23, 1886, p.118
See Mark Purcell’s article in ABC, August 2012, p.13
Catalogus librorum Bibliothecae Collegij Harvardini quod est Cantabrigiae in
Nova Anglia, Bartholomew Green, 1723, supplements to 1735.
For more on Ellys’s library see G. Mandelbrote & Y. Lewis, Learning to
Collect: the Library of Sir Richard Ellys at Blickling Hall, National Trust, 2004
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
16
‘APPROPRIATE FOR A COUNTRY HOUSE’?
Rebuilding Ralph Dutton’s library at Hinton Ampner
T
he catastrophic fire at Hinton
building.’2 Whilst only referring to it
Ampner in April 1960 started
in passing 3, he could also have added
in the library, destroying
that the choice of site for the house,
almost two decades of painstaking
set near a little village and church in
post-war reconstruction work. This
the sweeping chalk countryside near
work was needed not because the
Winchester, was an inspired one.
house had suffered from the depreRalph Dutton gives us glimpses
dations of war, but because Ralph
of the house he grew up in, which
Dutton had inherited a rather
seems to have been a particularly
neglected Hinton Ampner from his
crowded Victorian household. He
father, John Henry Dutton, who died
was surrounded by the possessions
in 1935. Ralph Dutton had begun
of his grandfather’s generation.
work on the house; but inheriting
‘There was furniture, pictures, books,
close to the outbreak of war, he had
stuffed birds in glass cases, portfolios
had little chance to add any comforts
containing an assortment of prints
to it in those few years, which made
and drawings, the debris of discarded
it a much less attractive prospect for
amusements, broken croquet mallets,
requisition by the military. In fact,
the paraphernalia of toxophily, a box
it was a house which had had little
of mahogany bowls, and everywhere
done to it for almost a century. Its full
evidence of my grandmother’s passion
restoration had to wait until after the
for collecting China, huge Dresden
war.
ornaments, figures, candlesticks, dinDespite being the elder brother,
ner and dessert services and much
Ralph Dutton’s father had not inelse.’ 4 His father seems to have done
tended to marry, hoping to leave such
little to alter the situation; indeed
The Library at Hinton Ampner
matters to his younger brother, who
he positively frowned upon any sort
unfortunately died in 1886, just two
of change.5 Perhaps the unwanted
years after their father. John Henry Dutton, then aged 40, had
changes to his bachelor lifestyle had been all that he could bear.
to marry quickly in order to carry on the family line. He also
Of books, and Ralph Dutton’s own reading choices during his
inherited a house much altered from its original, fairly simple
formative years, there is but a brief mention when he describes
1793 design. Ralph Dutton clearly had no love for what was in
the contents of the schoolroom. ‘A bookcase contained the
architectural terms his grandfather’s house: ‘The house into which
lesson books, and a little simple reading in French and German—
my introduction was announced in such dignified terms was a
Les Malheurs de Sophie and so forth—while for entertainment
mid-Victorian building of such exceptional hideousness …’1 The
there were a number of books of fairy stories—Hans Andersen,
only saving grace of the building was ‘one good feature which
very sentimental, Grimm, frightening, and Andrew Lang, a varied
could not have been apparent to an observer: behind the plateselection.’ 6 Presumably he read much more at school and at home
glass and barge-boarded gables there still stood, engulfed in the
that he chose not to mention. Clearly there was a library in the
flood of Victorian Tudor, the fabric of a simple late Georgian
house, as during the war years it became a storage area whilst the
Portsmouth Day School for Girls occupied the house.7 Presumably there had been a library in his father’s time, but its contents
remain something of a mystery as much paperwork was destroyed
in the 1960 fire. Where Ralph Dutton kept his books during the
building works and war years is also a mystery. As an active writer,
one would expect him to have kept a good selection close by in
case of an immediate need to look something up.
From 1935 onwards, Gerald Wellesley and Trenwith Wells were
engaged as architects for the restoration work. We do know that
they enlarged the existing library by moving the wall adjoining the
dining room by one bay; the dining room then became the adjoining study (now the sitting room).8 In the years following the war,
with rationing still in operation, sourcing materials was extremely
difficult, so much was salvaged from houses being knocked down.
The work having been completed, Ralph Dutton was looking
forward to enjoying the fruit of his labours when disaster struck.
Sadly, it was in the library that the fire started in April 1960. Ralph
The fire at Hinton Ampner in 1960
nt images / christopher hurst
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
The Library destroyed by the 1960 fire
Dutton had gone out for a walk, leaving a fire blazing in its hearth,
from which a spark flew. ‘Hardly a book survived the conflagration. A few which were in my sitting room emerged unburnt but
so saturated with water as to be almost useless. Even when the
print was still legible, the stained and twisted aspect of the covers
was so repellent, and so unwelcome a reminder of the disaster,
that I found it impossible to keep them. In the library every book
was destroyed, and also those in a reference library housed in an
attic. The former, subjected to intense heat and water, had become
almost petrified as if engulfed by a volcanic eruption, and had to
be hewn out of the bookcases with pick axes.’9 The whole of the
main part of the house was destroyed.
This would be daunting for anyone, but it seems that there
was no doubt that the house would be rebuilt. Luckily the same
architects were still available, so their plans could be re-tuned—
the fire had cleared the site.10 Over the next three years, their
plans came to fruition: rooms that had previously retained their
Victorian character, but had been destroyed, now joined the Regency ensemble. The house became a more coherent whole. Apart
from the fireplace, the library was restored to its pre-1960 Regency
glory.11 After the re-building of the house came the re-fitting of
the interiors. For the last 30 years it has been thought that when
re-creating the contents of his library after that tragic fire in 1960,
Ralph Dutton ‘set about collecting works to replace them which
would be appropriate for an English country house. He acquired
some books of instruction and reference—peerages and the like
—but the collection is largely of works which would entertain: the
English poets and novelists, travel journals and diaries and works
of topography.’12 Perhaps it is now time to re-examine the collection and look more closely at the books themselves, to see whether
they were used, and how they were purchased.
If a library has been recreated, one would expect to see some
purchasing en masse from sales, rather than a desire to collect books
as historic artefacts in their own right, or as the contents of an
author’s working reference library. What we see, however, in Ralph
Dutton’s own notebook of purchases between 1935 and 1972, are
many items bought individually from various booksellers, or small
groups of books bought from the same sale. Receipts show that
he bought from London booksellers both large and small as well
as from those in the regions. Some receipts list the books bought,
others just the lot numbers. Books were delivered both to Hinton
Ampner and to his London flat in Eaton Square. As cataloguing gets under way it will be interesting to see how many of the
17
volumes have ended up on the shelves at Hinton Ampner.
The bookshelves at Hinton Ampner contain an eclectic mix of
titles. Repton’s Observations (1803) sits beautifully in a Regency
library, and so does Pine’s Royal Residences (1819). Alongside them
are bound volumes of Christopher Hussey’s articles on Georgian
houses for Country Life (1955). Ralph Dutton missed out on a copy
of Tom Brown, but he did succeed in getting Lewis Carroll’s Alice
in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, both with Tenniel’s
illustrations.13 We are often asked if the books in National Trust
houses were ever read, or just bought by the yard. Dutton’s copy
of the Victoria County History of Hampshire, with its very carefully
inserted slips of tissue paper for reference, is one of a group of
books so marked up, which would suggest that the library was
actively used. That particular book has also been carefully rebound,
retaining the original covers inside the new binding. Others, such
as Cockayne’s Complete Peerage (1887-98), were both useful for his
writing on country houses and their owners, and also relevant to
his family, as it came from the Sherborne family library.14
Though the notebook and the receipts end in 1972, books were
still being bought and read. His copy of Sowerby’s English Botany
… (1790-1814) contains a slip from one of Quaritch’s catalogues
A slip from a Quaritch catalogue on Sowerby’s ‘English Botany’
of 1973, and the shelves also contain The Penguin Dictionary of
Decorative Arts (1977). Sir Brinsley Ford’s memoir, printed in the
1988 guide to the house, is a wonderful account of Ralph Dutton
which brings him clearly to life—his enjoyment of books did not
stop even though he was losing his sight in his later years: ‘Fortunately he had many devoted friends, who visited him regularly at
his flat in Eaton Square. My wife used to read to him about once
a week. His favourite book, of which he never tired, was Lucy
Norton’s wonderful translation, in three volumes, of Saint-Simon’s
Memoirs. As proof of his fascination for this book, which was also
amongst Proust’s favourite literature, my wife was asked to read
it to him three times. I, too, used to read to him. He loved Jane
Austen, Trollope, and such biographies as Duff Cooper’s Life of
Talleyrand.’15 At Hinton Ampner you will find a library both used
and loved, appropriate for its owner, if not strictly in keeping with
the Regency taste of the library interior.
Yvonne Lewis, Assistant Libraries Curator (South and West)
Ralph Dutton, Hinton Ampner: a Hampshire Manor, The National Trust,
2010, p. 17.
2
Ibid. 3 Ibid., p. 54. 4 Ibid., p. 74. 5 Ibid., p. 75. 6 Ibid., p. 71.
7
Ibid., p. 84. 8 Ibid, p. 78. 9 Ibid., p. 92. 10 Ibid., pp. 92-94.
11
Ibid., p. 94.
12
Hinton Ampner, The National Trust, 1988, p. 21.
13
Receipts from Holland Bros., Birmingham, dated 2 Dec 1963 and 8 Oct 1966.
14
Receipt from G. Heywood Hill, dated Jan 1962. Ralph Dutton succeeded a
cousin as the 8th Lord Sherborne in 1982.
15
Ibid., p. 59.
1
a rts|buildings|collections bulletin
18
AC QU I S I T I O N S
CHARTWELL
A painting by Sir Winston Churchill entitled Formal Garden and Pavilion at Lympne,
c. 1930, was purchased by private treaty for
a net special price of £88,270. Port Lympne
(pronounced ‘Port Lyme’) was a country seat of Churchill’s acquaintance and
political associate Sir Philip Sassoon, 3rd Bt.
Inv. no. NT 1102504
nt images
Human condition: Stanley Spencer drawing (detail, increased contrast) for Sandham
Post-impressionist garden: Churchill painting
for Chartwell
plywood, by Cyril Henry Barraud (1877-1965)
were purchased at auction at Canterbury
Auction Galleries, Canterbury, for £480
including buyer’s premium (together with
a dozen other paintings which will not
be retained). Inv. nos. NT 2900043 and NT
2900044
CHASTLETON HOUSE
A pair of Victorian 17th-century-style side
chairs with a provenance from Chastleton
was purchased at auction at Kidson-Trigg
auctioneers, Highworth, Wiltshire, for £211.
Inv. no. NT 2900059
A cartoon by Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959)
was purchased at auction at Christie’s South
Kensington, London, for £2,061 including
buyer’s premium and artist’s resale right. It
is a preparatory study for Fire Belt which
is part of the sequence of paintings by
Spencer at the Sandham Memorial Chapel.
Inv. no. NT 2900046
A photograph of T. E. Lawrence’s driver
in Arabia, John Mackay, in WWI-era
uniform and standing in front of a military
staff car, was donated by Mr Francis Watts.
Inv. no. NT 2900060
FLORENCE COURT
WOOLSTHORPE MANOR
christie’s
A copy of Isaac Newton, The Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy, translated
from the original Latin by Andrew Motte,
1729, 8vo, 2 vols., has been donated by Mrs
Kate Hargreaves. Inv. no. NT 3193069
HOUGHTON MILL
A sketch of Houghton Mill and a finished
painting of the same subject, both oil on
A portrait of Sir Thomas Savage, 1st
Viscount Savage (1586-1635), depicted with
his purse of office as Chancellor to Queen
Henrietta Maria, by Cornelius Janssens
van Ceulen I (1593-1661), was purchased at
auction at Christie’s, South Kensington,
London, for £7,500 including buyer’s premium with funds from gifts and bequests.
Savage inherited Melford Hall in 1602.
Inv. no. NT 2900055
SANDHAM MEMORIAL
CHAPEL
CLOUDS HILL
A copy of Virgil, Opera (Paris, 1682), 4to,
with a bookplate of William Cole, 3rd Earl
of Enniskillen (1807-1886) was donated by
Dr. Murray Simpson. Inv. no. NT 3195415
MELFORD HALL
High-status handbag: portrait for Melford
Find this bulletin at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/abcbulletin
Emile de Bruijn, Registrar
(Collections & Grants)
Please pass the link on to your colleagues
Published by The National Trust, Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon SN2 2NA Telephone 0870 600 2127 Fax 01793 817401 Correspondence to [email protected]
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