Art collections of Holkham Hall explained

The art collection of Holkham Hall in Norfolk, England, remains very largely that which the original owner intended the house to display; the house was designed around the art collection acquired (a few works were commissioned) by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, during his Grand Tour of Italy during 1712–18. To complete the scheme it was necessary to send Matthew Brettingham the younger to Rome between 1747 and 1754 to purchase further works of art.

The design of the house was a collaborative effort between Thomas Coke, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, and William Kent, with Matthew Brettingham the elder acting as the on-site architect. The house was built between 1736 and 1764, with work on the interiors only completed in 1771. By 1769 all the men involved had died, leaving Thomas's widow, Lady Margaret Tufton, Countess of Leicester (1700–1775), to oversee the completion of the house. Their only child to survive infancy, Edward Coke, Viscount Coke, had died without issue in 1753.

The house is designed with a corps de logis containing the state rooms on the first floor (piano nobile), surrounded by four wings: to the south-west the family wing, to the north-west the guest wing, to the south-east the chapel wing and to the north-east the kitchen wing. With all the intervening doors open it is possible to stand in the Long Library and look down the full length of the southern State Rooms and see the east window of the Chapel in the opposing wing the full 344feet length of the house. The family wing is a self-contained residence, meant for daily living.

The Marble Hall is in the centre of the north front. To its west is the North Dining Room (also called the State Dining Room), then along the west side of the corps de logis is the Statue Gallery, to its east on the south front is the Drawing Room, then the Saloon, South Dining Room, Landscape Room north of which on the east side of the corps de logis is the Green State Bedroom, Green State Dressing Room, North State Dressing Room, the North State Bedroom, and finally to the west the State Sitting Room with the Marble Hall to its west.

Much thought went into the placing of sculptures and paintings, involving subtle connections and contrasts in the mythological and historical characters and stories depicted. The state rooms were designed with symmetrical arrangements of doors, windows and fireplaces; this meant that some walls have false doors to balance real doors. This need for balance and harmony extended to the placing of sculpture, paintings and furniture, each artwork being balanced by a piece of similar size though sometimes of contrasting subject matter. Examples are the two paintings commissioned by Thomas Coke above the fireplaces in the Saloon, Tarquin Raping Lucretia and Perseus and Andromeda. In the first painting Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the last king of Rome, is violating a woman, while in the second painting a man is rescuing a woman from being killed. The result of the rape of Lucretia is the overthrow of a tyrant; the rescue of Andromeda results in Perseus becoming a king. Other connections are the sculptures in the two exedras of the Statue Gallery: in the southern one are two satyrs, symbols of ungoverned passion and lust, while opposite are the virgin Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Ceres, the preserver of marriage and sacred law. In the Landscape Room it is possible to go from looking at the paintings to looking through the window at a real Landscape garden, one influenced by the images on the walls.

The works collected in Italy include: sculpture, paintings, mosaics, books, manuscripts and old master drawings (most of which have been sold). The books included one of Leonardo da Vinci's note books now known as the Codex Leicester which was sold from the collection in 1980.

Sculpture

Grand Tour.The collection of 60 Ancient Roman marble sculptures is amongst the finest in any private collection in the world. The collection consists of both life size and greater than life size statues and busts that include several of the Twelve Olympians, characters from Greek mythology, ancient Greek philosophers and ancient Romans of the imperial era, plus other sculptures. Most have been repaired to varying extents. The full length statues are mainly displayed in the Statue Gallery along with busts which are also to be found throughout the State Rooms.

Matthew Brettingham the Younger dispatched the first consignment of sculptures from Rome in 1749. Because of the difficulty in getting permission from the Papal authorities to export the sculpture of Isis the second consignment was not dispatched until 1751, after which sculptures were exported annually until the last shipment in the summer of 1754.

Among the finest of the works are:

In the following list sculptures marked with an * were purchased by Thomas Coke on his Grand Tour; any marked # were purchased by Matthew Brettingham the younger.

The Roman statues include:

The Roman busts include depictions/portraits of the following:

Other Roman sculptures include:

There are several sculptures dating from the post-Roman era:

Paintings

The 7th Earl of Leicester restored most of the paintings to the positions designed for them. Three paintings however are no longer in the collection. These are Titian's Venus and the Lute Player, sold in 1931, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has been replaced in the current hang in the South Dining Room by Melchior d'Hondecoeter's bird painting. The Saloon also originally had in the centre of the side walls Chiari's Continence of Scipio (commissioned by Thomas Coke in Rome) and Pietro da Cortona's Coriolanus: their present whereabouts is unknown.

The Rubens and Van Dyck paintings originally hung in the centres of the side walls in the Drawing Room are now hung in the Saloon and are replaced in the Drawing Room by family portraits. The fact that the greater works of art were not originally hung in the Saloon, the main room of the state apartment, suggests that the subject matter of the lost paintings was of prime importance to Thomas Coke's scheme.

The Continence of Scipio depicts the return of a captured young woman to her fiancé by Scipio, having refused to accept her from his troops as a prize of war, and Coriolanus using his military victory as an excuse to fight democracy and his failure leading to his betrayal of Rome. Again like the paintings over the fireplaces in this room, these paintings contrast the use and abuse of power, in this case clemency versus betrayal.

List of principal paintings by school

Dutch School

'English School'

Flemish School

French School

German School

Italian School

Scottish School

Old master drawings

Sadly most of the old master drawings have been sold, including: Raphael's Cartoon of the Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist, Bernini's Design for the Tomb of Cardinal Carlo Emanule Pio da Carpi, Pietro da Cortona's Christ on the Cross and Assembly of the Gods, Nicolas Poussin's View of the Tiber Valley and Wooded Landscape with River God Gathering Fruit, Guido Reni's Head of a Young Woman Looking Up, Jusepe de Ribera Adoration of the Shepherds, Frans Snyders Wild Boar at Bay, Paolo Veronese's Allegorical Female Figure Holding a Sceptre & Globe.

Books and manuscripts

Thomas Coke had purchased many books and manuscripts while on his Grand Tour, though he continued to purchase items after the Tour ended. In 1719 he bought the 'Codex Leicester', in 1721 several Greek manuscripts acquired via Consul Joseph Smith in Venice. He employed a Neapolitan called Domenico Ferrari as his librarian at Holkham on a salary of £100 per annum. He would purchase all the significant books on architecture published in England including, Giacomo Leoni's English translation of Palladio's books and Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus. Other architectural books include Leone Battista Alberti's De re aedificatoria (1452, Ten Books of Architecture) of which both an Italian edition of 1565 and an English edition of 1726 are to be found in the library as is Antoine Desgodetz's Les edifices antiques de Rome dessinés et mesurés très exactement (Paris 1682). Other interests of Coke covered were politics and music.

An extensive archive of material relating to the building of the house and the acquisition of the collections exists including letters from both Matthew Brettingham the elder, the executive architect and Baron Lovell (Thomas Coke's title before becoming Earl of Leicester), as well as several architectural plans and elevations showing various alternative designs including many drawings by William Kent. In 1761 Matthew Brettingham the elder published The Plans, Elevations and Sections, Of Holkham in Norfolk in which he down played the role of Kent in the design of the House. The 2nd edition of 1773 by Brettingham the Younger corrected the first edition and gave due weight to Lord Burlington's and Kent's roles in the design process. The correspondence with Matthew Brettingham the younger whilst he was in Italy is extensive, there was much discussion about potential purchases of art works, their cost, shipping and custom fees, also his account book survives with detailed entries for each art work purchased.

The design of Holkham Hall

When the idea of building Holkham Hall as it is seen today occurred is not known. It may have been during his grand tour that the idea first emerged, Coke had met William Kent in early 1714 and then Richard Boyle the 3rd Earl of Burlington later that same year. Later they went travelling through Italy and experienced Andrea Palladio's architecture first hand, particularly his villas in the Veneto. Palladio's I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) sets out the theories that underlie his designs and includes an extensive series of woodcut illustrations. These villas formed the basis of the design, though reinterpreted as the centre of an English country estate rather than a summer retreat from Venice, that included working farm buildings. Whereas in a Palladio villa the family would have lived in the Corp de Logis the wings being reserved for agricultural use, at Holkham the State Rooms housing the finest works of art occupy the centre of the House the wings being used for daily life and service functions. In 1773 Matthew Brettingham the younger published a new edition of his father's book The Plans, Elevations and Sections of Holkham with additional text in which it is stated that the concept of a central corp de logis with wings was taken from Palladio's unfinished Villa of Trissino at Meledo but that another of the architect's unbuilt designs Villa Mocenigo on the Brenta was the model for four wings. Brettingham also stated that Lord Leicester found the design with curved colonnades wasteful and adopted the current short corridor links. One of the subjects covered in Palladio's writings are the ratios of room dimensions, this is seen in the House where the ratios of 1:1 occur in the Landscape room and the North Dining room both square, 3:1 is seen in the Long Library, 2:3 in the South Dining room and Drawing Room, 3:4 in Lady Leicester's Sitting Room and the Venetian Room and 1:1.41 (the square root of two) in the Saloon.

There were several major influences on the interior decoration of the house including Inigo Jones's designs. Burlington had purchased Jones's surviving architectural drawings in 1720. These were then published in 1727 in the two folio volumes of The Designs of Inigo Jones by William Kent. Ceilings divided up by deep plaster beams that are found throughout Holkham are in the style of Jones, who designed ceilings like these for the Queen's House. Other features showing the influence of Jones's designs include many of the door surrounds, fireplaces such as those in the Drawing Room that are massively sculptural and the decorative niche above the Statue Gallery fireplace.

Antoine Desgodetz's publication Les edifices antiques de Rome dessinés et mesurés très exactement (Paris 1682) with its engravings of the monuments and antiquities of Rome, provided suitable architectural details based on illustrations in this book for rooms including: The Marble Hall the columns of which are based on those of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis the coffering is based on the Pantheon, The Statue Gallery exedra are based on those at the Temple of Venus and Roma, in the Saloon the coffering of the cove is copied from the Basilica of Maxentius and the ceiling frieze in the Drawing Room is from the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Daniele Barbaro's translation with extended commentary of the De architectura (Ten books of Architecture) by Vitruvius,[1] contains a woodcut interpretation of a plan of Vitruvius's Roman House and was in part the inspiration for the Marble Hall, especially the atrium which is shown flanked by six columns and with a coffered ceiling. Matthew Brettingham the younger stated that the concept for the Marble Hall was Lord Leicester's, inspired by "Palladio's example of a Basilica, or tribunal of justice, exhibited in his designs for Monsignor Barbaro's translation of Vitruvius".

Between 1725 and 1731, William Kent had been at work designing interiors at nearby Houghton Hall, prior to the building of Holkham this was the grandest Palladian style house in Britain and was also built to house an extensive collection of paintings. The earliest surviving elevations and plans for Holkham are preserved in the British Library and date from the 1720s, for which a payment of 10 guineas was made to Matthew Brettingham the Elder in 1726, these show a house heavily influenced by Houghton, but without any wings, the Marble Hall is as designed by Kent prior to the changes of 1755, plus the Statue Gallery is in a form close to that built. The first design to show the four wings is by Kent dated 1728. An influence on the finished House is Chiswick House designed by Lord Burlington and with interiors by William Kent, the gallery being the basis of the design of the Statue Gallery at Holkham.

Influence of the design

The building most influenced by Holkham is Kedleston Hall, the first architect of which was Matthew Brettingham the Elder, who probably designed the entrance hall, the house was to have four wings, though only the two northern were built. The portico leads to grand entrance hall with its 25feet high alabaster Corinthian columns. The interiors at Holkham were the culmination of designs based on Roman public buildings and temples, even before they were completed they were old fashioned. Robert Adam had returned from his grand tour in 1758. His interiors are some of the earliest Neo-classical designs influenced by the newly discovered Roman domestic interiors at Pompeii which are all together lighter in style. He designed the state rooms at Kedleston and lightened the design of the entrance hall. This was the future of domestic design, the grand style of Holkham would never be repeated in a British House. Although Palladio would remain a major influence in British architecture, never again would a great house be built that was so closely influenced by the Italian's designs and theories.

Furnishings and decoration

Chronology of the construction and decoration of Holkham Hall

The extensive archives at Holkham list all the materials that went into building the house, their cost and the names of craftsmen employed. Annual expenditure varied between £500 and £2,500, but peaked at £6,500 in 1755 and fell to £1,200 in 1759. The chronology of the building is as follows:

The total amount spent on building and decorating the House was nearly £90,000. with a further £8562. 3s. 5d. spent on furnishings. Including £3,166. 16s. 0d. on damask, velvet and other textiles from a London mercer called Carr. Between 1734 and 1762, 2,700,000 yellow bricks were manufactured at Burnham Market at £1 per thousand bricks.

Description of the major interiors

The Corp de Logis

THIS SEAT, on an open barren Estate
Was planned, planted, built, decorated.
And inhabited the middle of the XVIIIth Century
By THO's COKE EARL of LEICESTER

has shallow plasterwork beams outlining a circle in the centre with two semicircles from the side walls touching it, there are large rosettes in each corner and paired above the fireplace and opposite in front of the middle window. The four doorways on the side walls have entablatures. The dado, ceiling and door surrounds are white highlighted in gilt. The central chandelier is of gilded bronze and hangs from a plaster pendant. The walls are covered by the tapestries of the four continents, Europe, America & Africa are Brussels tapestries all signed A. Auwercx. Asia is a Mortlake tapestry in the same style, either side of the central window are two small Mortlake tapestries of Sleep & Vigilance, all woven by Paul Saunders and George Smith Bradshaw in 1757. The canopied bed, seat furniture and curtains, have retained their original multicoloured Genoa velvet upholstery and was designed by William Kent. There are two small pier-tables with marble tops between the windows.

The Family Wing

The Guest Wing

The Chapel Wing

The Kitchen Wing

Bibliography

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Notes and References

  1. published in Italian as Dieci libri dell'architettura di M. Vitruvio, Venice, 1556, Barbaro's commentary was illustrated by Palladio

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