Walpole collection

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The Walpole collection was a collection of paintings and other works of art at Houghton Hall, Norfolk.

Origin and history

The collection was put together by Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister and housed at Houghton Hall.[1] It included paintings by Van Dyck, Poussin, Rubens, and Rembrandt,[2] as well as a number of portraits of family members. Many of the portraits and some of the other paintings came from the collection of the Wharton family which Walpole reputedly bought for £1500.[3][4] These included royal portraits and family portraits by Lely and van Dyck (such as the double portrait of Philadelphia and Elisabeth Wharton). Walpole bought the complete collection, most of which went to Houghton, but a few of which were sold.[4]

Walpole's collection of marble Roman busts was also noteworthy[5] and the collection included a pair of silver wine coolers by William Lukin that are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.[6]

Horace Walpole, son of Sir Robert, published a catalogue of the collection in 1736.[7] Following the death of Robert Walpole, the 2nd Earl of Orford, in 1751, "a lesser part of the collection" was sold at auction by the 3rd Earl.[4]

In 1777, John Wilkes tried (but failed) to persuade parliament to buy the collection for the nation.[8] Many of the Old Master paintings subsequently went to the Hermitage Museum having been sold by the 3rd Earl to Catherine the Great in 1779 for £40,550.[9][4] Many of these remain in the Hermitage, but some subsequently passed to other Russian museums and some were sold.[10]

Some works remained at Houghton after the sale to Catherine including Thomas Gainsborough's oil painting of his own family -- Thomas Gainsborough, with His Wife and Elder Daughter, Mary (circa 1751-1752).

From 17 May 2013, until 24 November 2013, 70 pictures from the Hermitage and other museums that were part of the collection will be loaned to Houghton Hall to be exhibited in their original settings.[11]

Some pictures from the collection

  • The Kitchen by David Teniers, one of the paintings in the Walpole collection, now in the Hermitage

  • Jean-Baptiste Oudry's The White Duck, which was stolen from Houghton Hall in 1990

  • Pope Clement IX by Carlo Maratta - another example now in the Hermitage

  • Van Dyck's double portrait of Philadelphia and Elisabeth Wharton. These were described by Oliver Millar as "two of the most touching portraits" ever produced by van Dyck.[1]

  • Portrat of a young man by Frans Hals - part of the collection now in the National Gallery, Washington

  • Head of Pope Innocent X after Velazquez - currently in the National Gallery, Washington


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References

  1. ↑ Royal Academy of Arts
  2. ↑ Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. ↑ Lysons, Samuel (1813). Magna Britannia: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire. p. 670. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Millar, Oliver. "Philip, Lord Wharton and his collection of portraits". Burlington Magazine 136. 
  5. ↑ Michaelis, Adolph. (1882). Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, p. 324.
  6. ↑ Metropolitan Museum of Art
  7. ↑ Walpole, Horace; Whaley, Nathanael (1752). A Description of the Collection of Pictures at Houghton Hall. 
  8. ↑ Alexander, Edward P; Alexander, Mary (2008). Museums in Motion. AltaMira Press. p. 28. 
  9. ↑ Houghton Hall web site
  10. ↑ Royal Academy Magazine
  11. ↑ BBC News
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