Sir Robert Walpole
with Horse and Groom
Venus, Flora, Mars and Cupid (Allegory)
Abraham's Sacrifice
Inigo Jones
|
|
28th September 2002 - 30 March 2003
Generously supported by the Open Russia Foundation
Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), 1st Earl
of Orford and Britain's first Prime Minister, assembled one of the
18th century's most famous art collections for his beloved estate,
Houghton Hall, Norfolk. The sale in 1778-9 to Catherine the Great
of 204 works from Houghton by Walpole's eccentric and volatile grandson,
the 3rd Earl of Orford, was surrounded by great secrecy and wild
rumour. There had been hopes that the collection might be acquired
for the nation and the sale was perceived as indicative of the declining
state of the country.
The exhibition presents 34 masterpieces
from the Walpole collection, most returning to England for the first
time in over 200 years. Among these are works by 17th-century Flemish,
Dutch and Italian painters such as Rembrandt, Sir Peter Paul Rubens,
Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Frans Snyders, Guido Reni, Carlo Maratti and
Salvator Rosa. In addition there are paintings by Nicolas Poussin
and Claude Lorrain and a painting by Bartolomé Murillo in
its original frame designed for Houghton by William Kent. When Prime
Minister, Walpole hung many of these pictures at Downing Street,
his official residence.
The Marquess of Cholmondeley is kindly
lending antique and Renaissance sculpture, splendid 18th-century
furniture and other material acquired by Sir Robert for Houghton
Hall.
A souvenir publication illustrating every
work in the exhibition in colour will be available. The exhibition
will be accompanied by an audioguide which will provide social and
historical context for the works on display enabling the visitor
to gain a deeper appreciation not only of the paintings themselves
but the climate in which they were collected.
The exhibition coincides with the publication of 'A Capital Collection
Houghton Hall and the Hermitage with a Modern Edition of Aedes Walpolianae,
Horace Walpole's Catalogue of Sir Robert Walpole's Collection',
edited by Andrew Moore and Larissa Dukelskaya. Published for The
State Hermitage Museum and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in
British Art by Yale University Press.
See previous exhibitions
|
