The painting collection formed by Marble Hill’s first owner, Henrietta Howard, was relatively modest. Henrietta only owned 34 paintings including 5 ‘capricci’, fanciful views of Rome by Giovanni Paolo Panini.
In 2022 Orleans House Gallery, the home of Richmond Borough’s art collection, turned 50. This significant anniversary provided an excuse to explore the formation of the collection. Many local authorities in the UK own an art collection. Richmond’s Art Collection includes a wide range of artworks which together tell a fascinating story about the borough and its people.
The eighteenth-century poet, Alexander Pope, was a very painterly poet and also much depicted by painters. He was acquainted with artists such as Godfrey Kneller and studied painting with Charles Jervas. His villa in Twickenham was lavishly decorated with portraits, mostly of his wide circle of friends. He also painted pictures in words. Many of his most famous poems, including ‘The Rape of the Lock’ (1712-14) and ‘The Dunciad’ (1728-43) are intensely visual.
Sir John Soane designed Pitzhanger as his country house between 1800-1804 to create a showcase for his architectural skills, as well as his growing collection of artefacts. It soon became his elegant stage set for the entertainment of friends, celebrities and potential clients: he threw grand garden parties and held fascinating dinners for the beau monde of the time. Guests included the artist JMW Turner, a fellow academician, with whom Soane enjoyed fishing in the lake at Pitzhanger, and numerous other personalities from the worlds of finance, politics, theatre, journalism and literature.
Chiswick House has had a wealth of well-known residents and visitors – from the renowned composer Handel to the infamous Duchess Georgiana. In this talk, Nadege explores the lives of some of Chiswick’s lesser-known, but equally colourful characters, and their connections to one another.