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Petworth House
The North Gallery - Central Corridor
View of the Central corridor in the North Gallery
This part of the North Gallery was added by the 3rd Earl in 1824-5 to house
the ever growing collection of Antique statuary. The window openings for the
original South Corridor were integrated into the new Central Corridor.
Once completed in 1825, work began at once on the extra addition to be known
as the Square Bay, and the present layout was finished in October 1827. The
works were supervised by Thomas Upton, the Petworth Clerk of Works, and executed
by his building yard. Upton apparently acted without the direction of an architect,
and it is probable that the 3rd Earl had much to say about the design.
Sculpture
Group of Pan and Olympus (Daphnis). Roman, Parian marble
Pan, the lustful Greek god of woods and fields, flocks and herds, instructs
Daphnis, the blind shepherd boy, to play his intervention, the syrinx (reed
pipes arranged in a row of ascending length). Bought by the 3rd Earl
for £126 at the 1801 sale of the Earl of Bessborough at Roehampton.
It was restored by Pietro Pacilli (1716-72) and Vincenzo Pacetti (1746-1820),
who gave Olympus (Daphnis) and Antique head, probably originally of Dionysos.
Torso, restored as Dionysos. Roman, Italian marble
This Antique torso ''from Rome, and taken out of the Tiber'' was given
legs and arms by J.E.Carew and the marble mason James Welch in 1832-5 for
the 3rd Earl. Carew's new head retains evidence of patination that
he employed to marry up his additions to the Antique torso.
Seated Statue of a Man (Menander). Roman, second century AD
The head, of the Emperor Galienus (c.AD218-68), is third century AD; Pentelic marble.
Listed in the Barberini Collection, Rome, in 1738 'without a head, without
one arm and lacking a foot'. These shortcomings were rectified,
presumably in the mid-eighteenth century. It was imported to Britain in 1763.
Seated Statue of a Philosopher. Attic, c. second century AD; Pentelic marble
Another statue from the Barberini Palace, Rome, where in 1738 it was described
as lacking a head and an arm. The head, added by a mid-eighteenth
century restorer, is Antique and reminiscent of portraits of Demosthenes,
the Athenian orator. Imported in 1763.
Sir Richard Westmacott, RA (1775-1856). The Dream of Horace
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1823 and subsequently installed in its present position within a blocked-up
window. The unusual subject was chosen by the 3rd Earl.
Taken from Horace's 'Ode to Calliope' (the Muse of Epic Poetry), it
depicts a sleeping boy protected by Venus, Minerva and Apollo against
wild animals. Thus protected, he need not fear the distant barbarians,
even 'the cruel race of Britain'. The face of Venus was taken
from 'the mistress of some man about in society', perhaps the 3rd
Earl.
Sir Richard Westmacott, RA (1775-1856). Nymph and Cupid
Exhibited in 1827 as ''Cupid made Prisoner'', this group is typical of the mythological works produced by Westmacott
during the 1820s under the influence of contemporary Italian sculpture,
and of Canova in particular.
John Edward Carew (1785-1868). Arethusa
The first work by Carew to be acquired by the 3rd Earl - directly from Carew's London studio in 1823. According
to Ovid (Metamorphoses, 5, 572-641), Arethusa was a nymph who was transformed
into a stream by the goddess Diana, thus protecting her from the amorous
advances of a river-god. Here, Carew depicts her with a grey-hound
(without classical authority) as a companion of Diana.
Pictures
William Blake (1757-1827). Satan Calling up his Legions (Paradise Lost)
Probably painted c.1805 for the 3rd Earl's wife, who was an amateur artist, as an experiment in
the use of tempera on canvas. Blake described it as ''largely painted in glazes on top of gold leaf''.
William Blake (1757-1827). The Last Judgement
Signed and dated 1808. Commissioned by the Countess of Egremont in 1807 and inspired
by Michelangelo's 'Last Judgement' in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). Jessica (Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene
V)
Illustrates the moment when Shylock instructs Jessica to 'stop. my casements'
(i.e. close the windows). When first exhibited in 1830, it was severely criticised, and Turner's earliest
biographer wrote (1862) that ''none but a great man dare have painted anything so bad''.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851) . The Thames near Windsor, c.1807
William Blake (1757-1827). Characters from Spenser's 'Faerie Queene', c.1825
Pencil and watercolour, varnished on muslin, mounted on panel. Bought
by the 3rd Earl from the artist's widow, who in 1829 instructed him
as to its care: 'Mr Blake had a great dislike to his pictures falling into
the hands of the picture cleaners'.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). Tabley House and Lake: Calm Morning
Painted in 1808 for Sir John Leicester, who owned eleven Turners, and
bought by the 3rd Earl for 165 guineas at his sale in 1827.
Tabley House, Cheshire, was built by Carr of York in 1761.
The subject may have suggested the 3rd Earl's commission in 1810 of '
Petworth House: Dewy Morning.'
David Teniers the Younger (1610-90). The Brussels Picture Gallery of the
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm
Signed and dated 1651. The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614-61), Habsburg Governor
of the South Netherlands, owned 517 Italian High Renaissance pictures, many of
which were acquired from the English Royal collection after the execution
of Charles I in 1649. This picture was bought in 1756 for £241 by the
2nd Earl and was listed in the North Gallery in 1835.
Henry Fuseli, RA (1741-1825). Macbeth and the Witches (Act I, Scene III)
Painted in 1793/4 for Woodmasons' abortive scheme for a rival Shakespeare Gallery to Alderman Bordell's
Washington Allston, ARA (1779-1843). Jacob's Dream
Allston, an American painter, began this picture in 1817 and it was bought
by the 3rd Earl at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1819 where it inspired
Wordworth's lines:
But rooted here, I stand and gaze
On those bright steps that Heavenward raise
Their practicable way.
Thomas Gainsborough, Ra (1727-88). Rocky wooded Landscape with Rustic Lovers
by a Pool
Painted 'c.1774-7', and presumably acquired by the 3rd Earl.
Angelica Kauffman, RA (1741-1807). Diomed and Cressida
A depiction of Troilus and Cressida (Act V, Scene II) for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). The Thames at Weybridge
Painted 'c.1807-10' and in the possession of the 3rd Earl by 1819.
Thomas Phillips, RA (1770-1845). The 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) in
the North Gallery
This is the finest of Phillips's fifteen portraits of the 3rd Earl, which was painted shortly after his death.
Thomas Phillips, RA (1770-1845). The allied Sovereigns at Petworth, 24
June, 1814
Signed and dated 1817. The 3rd Earl is shown welcoming the Prince Regent and
Tsar Alexander I of Russia in the Marble Hall, while the King of Prussia,
Frederick William II, faces him, and their respective suites look on.
The Allied Sovereigns visited England on 6-27 June 1814, after the Peace of Paris.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). The Thames at Windsor
Painted 'c.1805', exhibiting Turner's interest in classical forms of composition and debt to Gaspard Dughet,
as, most obviously, in his Narcissus and Echo of 1804.
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