Uncategorized – Page 190 – Number One London

Jane Austen in London

Jane Austen arrived at her brother Henry’s new London residence in Hans Place on August 22, 1814. Henry had moved from his previous house in Henrietta Street near Covent Garden to this recently developed area off Sloane Street.

The house now occupying the spot at #23 Hans Place is a Victorian reconstruction, very unlike the house in which Austen stayed. Below, the blue plaque on the house, commemorating her stay on the premises.

Around the crescent from #23 Hans Place there is a Regency-era house which is probably what Henry’s house looked like in 1814. Of course, any vehicle that might have been in the road in those days would not have resembled the one here.

The neighborhood around Hans Place was relatively new, developed just off Sloane Street as part of the Cadogan estate and opened out onto uninhabited fields to the west. The Hans in the name honors to Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), president of the Royal Society and benefactor of the British Museum, for whom Sloane Square is named.

The general neighborhood has been much in the news lately because the Ecuadoran Embassy is located nearby, the place Julian Assange sought asylum.

A quick check of property values in the area shows that these tall Victorian houses, now mostly institutions or condominiums, are extremely pricey.

Jane Austen described Henry’s house in a letter to Cassandra dated Tuesday 23-Wednesday 24 August, 1814. After sharing a few details of her journey to London, she wrote: “It is a delightful place—more than answers my expectation. Having got rid of my unreasonable ideas, I find more space and comfort in the rooms than I had supposed and the Garden is quite a Love. I am in the front Attic, which is the Bedchamber to be preferred. Henry wants you to see it all…”

From Ackermann’s Repository, April 1814

In early September, Jane Austen wrote from London to Martha Lloyd, who was staying in Pulteney Street, Bath. She shares her impressions of London fashions: “I am amused by the present style of female dress; — the coloured petticoats with braces over the white Spencers and enormous Bonnets upon the full Stretch are quite entertaining…”

From Ackermann’s Repository, 1814

Miss Austen went on to make observations on a recent art exhibit: “I have seen West’s famous painting and prefer it to anything of the kind I ever saw before. I do not know that it is reckoned superior to his Healing in the Temple, but it has gratified me much more and indeed is the first representation of our Saviour which ever at all contented me. ‘His Rejection by the Elders’, is the subject.–I want to have You and Cassandra see it.”

Benjamin West, Christ Rejected, 1814,

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia

Jane Austen wrote further of her brother’s house (his wife, Eliza de Feuillide Austen had died in April 1813): “I am extremely pleased with this new House of Henry’s, it is everything that could be wished for him and I have only to hope he will continue to like it as well as he does now, and not be looking out for anything better.–He is in very comfortable health; — he has not been so well, he says for a twelvemonth.”

Henry Austen was his sister’s favorite brother, for his talents and charm. He had several careers, first at Oxford, then in the military, and in various business ventures. His bank failed in 1816 and he went into the church, as curate in the Chawton parish and later as rector in Steventon. Henry assisted Jane in her publishing ventures, making deals for the sa
le and repurchase of her books. He oversaw posthumous publication of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Today: Garden in Hans Place, London

A Sale at Fonthill

William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844) was one of the most intriguing, contradictory, and notorious men of his era. At age 10, he inherited an enormous fortune, mostly from West Indian plantations worked by slaves. For the rest of his life, he indulged his every whim, including travel, building fantastic structures, and acquiring works of art.

William Beckford, by George Romney,

He also inherited his father’s mansion, Fonthill Splendens, in Wiltshire; but it was not stupendous enough for Beckford, and he began building an amazingly tall (and insubstantial) new mansion nearby, which he called Fonthill Abbey.

engraving of Fonthill Splendens

Just finished by his father about 1770, the Palladian-style mansion became the source of materials Beckford used to build the neo-Gothic Abbey –which was never part of the property of any religious body. Beckford largely destroyed Fonthill Splendens in the process.

engraving of the completed Fonthill Abbey, about

Architect James Wyatt began building Fonthill Abbey about 1796; it was not completed until 1813, after the main tower had collapsed several times during construction. Beckford continued throughout his lifetime to acquire art and in several sales, to sell it in order to buy more. In some cases, he later re-purchased items he sold. Here is an account of one of his large sales, disposing of art and furniture from Fonthill Splendens.

Fonthill sale, from the Chronicle in the Annual Register of 1801, p. 49-50:

“21 August. Fonthill. A brief account of this day’s sale will give a competent idea of the whole. There never was, perhaps, in the world, a collection of finer, or more superb furniture, in proportion to its quantity. The books, and a very few of the best paintings only, were retained. The Distinguished elegance of this noted feat, the natural beauty of the grounds, the art and expence so profusely lavished on their improvement; a spacious family mansion, in the best style of modern architecture, replenished with an excess of the most voluptuous accommodation, naturally attracted, as may well be conceived, all the fashion far and near. From Salisbury, Andover, Bath, Weymouth, etc. all the subordinate towns, the villas and even the hamlets, in their respective vicinities, the roads swarmed with the young and gay; and before noon every chamber in the house, as well as all the adjacent grounds, were crowded with genteel people; the court and stable yard with carriages, and all the gates, doors and passages, with the laqueys and beggars. The auction was in the great hall, where an organ, 26 feet high, and 15 feet wide, is placed. This very masterly instrument, built and finished in such superlative taste, that it is said to have cost near £2000 played till the business of the day commenced. Every article disposed of might, both for value and magnificence, suit any palace in Europe. Not a stool or tripod or spring blind or window curtain, was sold for so little as a guinea. Some marble slabs when at more than 100 guineas each. A bust of old Homer was knocked down at 27 guineas, that of Virgil at 19.

Copy of the Bust of Homer, British Museum

A young lady had inadvertently placed herself by a find statues of the Venus de Medicis. When this delicate and beautiful article was put up, a wag archly asked which of the two was meant? The auctioneer modestly replied, the one was above all price; and he was authorized only to dispose of the other.

A version of Venus-di-Medici, now in Russia

Everything in the room, fitted a la Turque, sold immensely high. The richness of the hangings, all silk or satin, of superlative quality, the brilliant French plates of glass which decorated and enlivened every side of the room, the sofas formed in the most sumptuous style of Oriental magnificence, the chairs and stools, all gilt with burnished gold, attracted every eye; and it was laughable to see even Wiltshire farmers furnishing their parlours with the gorgeous accumulation of inordinate fortune, and effeminate taste. Some articles, however, sold much under value. The organ went for no more than £290. It was purchased by the Rev. Mr. Ogle, brother-in-law to Mr. Sheridan.”

Beckford sold Fonthill Abbey in 1823; the tower collapsed again in 1825. Today, only a small portion still stands.

Beckford, also renowned for his authorship of the novel Vathek and other works, for his eccentric lifestyle, and his reclusive habits, moved to Bath, where he lived in conjoined townhouses in Lansdown Crescent and indulged in further tower building. The Lansdown or Beckford Tower can be visited in Bath today. For more information, click here.

Beckford’s Tower

Paintings and decorative art works once owned by Beckford are now spread among the world’s greatest collections. The painting below was once owned by Beckford and hung at Fonthill.

Madonna and Child, ca. 1510; workshop of Giovanni Bellini, Italian, active by 1459, died 1516

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Sefton's Commemorative Statue

Recently, we wrote a post about Sefton, a Household Cavalry horse who was en route to the Changing of the Guard ceremony when he was wounded on 20 July 1982 by an IRA nail bomb that exploded in London’s Hyde Park killing four soldiers and seven horses. You can read the post here.

We thought you might like to know that Sefton is being remembered with a life size bronze statue to be unveiled Spring 2013. The statue is being created by artist Camilla Le May, who has written about the people who knew Sefton, the creative process and the assembly of the statue on her blog, found here.

You can also learn more about Sefton, a real life War Horse, on the National Army Museum’s War Horse Exhibition website here.

Kenwood House: Traveling Treasures

Early Spring at Kenwood House

Victoria here, recalling several visits to Kenwood House, a beautiful white mansion sitting atop Hampstead Heath just outside of central London. Originally built in the early 17th century, it was remodeled by Robert Adam 1764-1779 in the neoclassic style with Adam’s distinctive and oft-copied interiors.

1st Earl of Mansfield (1705-1793)

At the time, it was owned by William Murray, who was named Baron Mansfield, later 1st Earl of Mansfield. He was the Lord Chief Justice from 1756 to 1788 and is credited with major contributions to the development of English law as well as measures to end slavery in the British Isles.

Elevations of Kenwood House, 1764

The famous Library

In 1925, Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927) and heir to a brewery fortune, bought the house from the Mansfield heirs as the home for his magnificent collection of art. At Iveagh’s death in 1927, he left both the house and the art collection to the nation. It is also known as the Iveagh Bequest.

Now managed by English Heritage, Kenwood House is undergoing extensive renovations and improvements, returning many rooms to their appearance after Robert Adam decorated them, probably to match the library, which has been long admired by visitors.

In 2012-13 an exhibition of works from the collection Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London is touring museums in the United States while Kenwood House is closed. Many of the works have never before been outside Britain. The treasured Rembrandt Self-Portrait was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art briefly in spring before the whole exhibition opened at the Fine Arts Museum of Houston, Texas, where it can been seen until September 3, 2012.

Self Portrait, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1661

I am particularly excited because the collection will next travel to the Milwaukee Art Museum (practically in my front yard) from October 12, 2012 through January 13, 2013. After Milwaukee, the collection will be shown in Seattle and later yet at the Arkansas Art Center.

The other artists celebrated in the title of this traveling exhibition include Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) who painted numerous portraits of English royalty and aristocrats.

Princess Henrietta of Lorraine attended by a Page, 1634

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is renowned for his exquisite portraits, and this one is among his best.

Mary, Countess of Howe, c. 1764

Many other masterworks are included in the nearly fifty paintings in the exhibition by artists such as Canaletto, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Edwin Landseer, and…

Portrait of Pieter van der Broecke, by Frans Hals, 1633

Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Coast Scene

with Fisherman Hauling a Boat Ashore, c. 1803-04

George Romney, Emma Hart as The Spinstress, c. 1783-84

The exhibition Rembrandt, van Dyck and Gainsborough: Treasures from Kenwood House is organized by The American Federation of Art and English Heritage.

A Visit to Salisbury Cathedral

Approaching the Salisbury Cathedral, the magnificent spire seems to pierce the blue canopy above, reaching for the heavens. It is Britain’s highest at 404 feet, and certainly the most graceful. The Cathedral’s website is here.

Officially named the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is more than 750 years old, completed in 1258, after just 38 years of construction, almost a miracle in the day. The rapidity of completion also ensured that Salisbury Cathedral is basically one style, the Early English Gothic; many cathedrals had several generations of builders involved, bringing evolving styles to their construction.

The West Front

The tower and spire were added somewhat after the main structure was finish. Visitors may climb the 330-plus steps into the tower to the base of the spire, which gives an excellent view of the interior construction of medieval days.

Interior of the spire

Though art and religious historians have tried to explain to the contemporary visitor just what a cathedral was, its symbolic role and its functions as a religious and community center, it is difficult for us to grasp just what these amazing buildings meant in medieval society.

The novel Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett provides a fictional account of the building of a great cathedral, roughly based on Salisbury. It was presented as a television miniseries in 2010, and it is well worth watching.

In addition to the book and tv versions, an expanded and amplified interactive editions is available for download to your iPad or other mobile device. For a preview, click here.

Novelist Susan Howatch also set a series of novels in the cathedral community of Starbridge, also modeled on Salisbury, though in the 20th century. There are six novels in the series, beginning with Glittering Images.

Salisbury Cathedral, with the largest cathedral close (precinct) in England and also the largest cloister, is a major tourist attraction in Wiltshire, competing with the nearby stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury, Old Sarum, stately homes such as Wilton House and Bowood, the Safari Park at Longleat, and extensive gardens such as at Stourhead. In addition to the building and its art, one of four existing copies of the Magna Carta is on exhibit in the Cathedral’s Chapter House.

The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by King John; it provides a foundation for democratic values in removing absolute power from kings and providing for liberty under the law.

The Chapter House, from the South

The Central Pillar and fan vaulting of the Chapter House

John Constable, brilliant painter — particularly of landscapes — painted Salisbury Cathedral many times. Versions exist in many of Britain’s major museums as well as in several in the U.S.

Salisbury Cathedral from Lower Marsh Close, 1820

Artist: John Constable (1776-1837), Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Salisbury Cathedral from the southwest

Aerial View

The Nave — from the altar

In addition to the Magna Carta, the Cathedral’s architecture and art works, the chapels and tombs, monuments and carvings, you will also find the oldest clock in Europe.

another view of the nave

We are accustomed to seeing the stonework in old churches elaborately carved but merely gray, monochromatic stone. However, originally most of these walls and ceilings were elaborately painted. At Salisbury, many of these ancient decorations have been restored or replaced.