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Petworth House
The Red Room
The Red Room; watercolour-gouache by J.M.W.Turner, c.1827 (Tate Gallery)
In the Proud Duke's time, this was the 'Picture Room next to ye North Cloisters', containing no fewer
than '60 pictures of different sizes'. Called the Green Drawing Room in the 1764 inventory, it was redecorated
by the 3rd Earl in 1806, when it was described as 'the new Crimson Room by the North Gallery'.
In 1952, when 'Anthony Blunt' collected together here almost all the twenty
paintings by Turner in the collection, and when the present yellow silk was
hung, it became known as the Turner Room. Its previous name has recently
been readopted, given the possibility of reverting to the 3rd Earl's décor,
which is recorded in paintings by both Turner and Leslie. Both views
also show Van Dyck's full-length portraits of Sir Robert and Lady Shirley
(already here in 1764) hanging either side of the North Gallery door.
This arrangement has been restored, as has the pattern of adjacent pictures
depicted by Turner.
Both Turner's and Leslie's views show that the room had a dark skirting
board, white woodwork and that it retained the blue-and-white Chinese jars
and Antique sculpture listed in 1764. Leslie's painting indicates that
there was a red festoon 'portière' curtain in the Red Room above the doorway
leading from the Carved Room and this presumably matched the window curtains.
The building accounts record that the crimson walls were bordered by a gilt
moulding put up in 1806.
Pictures
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). The Lake, Petworth: Sunset, Fighting Bucks,
c.1829-30)
A suitably idyllic version of the park created by 'Capability' Brown, with a cricket match in progress on the
left and deer wandering up to the windows of the west front, as they still can. The 3rd Earl
asked Turner to add the black sheep, which he had bred at Petworth.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). Brighton Chain Pier, c.1829-30.
J.M.W.Turner, Ra (1775-1851). Chichester Canal, c.1829-30
The Portsmouth & Arundel Canal lost the 3rd Earl at least
£55,000 and was unprofitable after its completion in 1823.
Lord Egremont withdrew from the company in 1826, so his reasons
for subsequently commissioning a painting of the navigation are obscure.
J.M.W.Turner, RA (1775-1851). The Lake, Petworth: Sunset, a Stag Drinking, c.1829-30.
Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). Sir Robert Shirley (?1581-1628)
This magnificent portrait and its companion (Teresia, Lady Shirley, see
below) were probably painted in Rome in 1622, while Shirley was on a diplomatic
mission as Persian Ambassador from Shah Abbas the Great of Persia to Pope
Gregory XV.
They were probably purchased by the 2nd Earl and are first listed at Petworth
in 1764.
Sébastian Bourdon (1616-71). The Selling of Joseph
Bourdon visited Rome in 1634-7, and the influence of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione ('c.1610-65')
in this picture suggests a date soon afterwards, c.1640. Bought by the 2nd Earl in 1756 and hung in the Red
Damask Drawing Room at Egremont House, it retains its French-style frame, probably supplied by Samuel
Norman in 1762.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641). Teresia, Lady Shirley (d.1668)
A Circassian Christian noblewoman, wife of Sir Robert Shirley.
Antoine, Louis (both active 1629-48) and Mathieu Le Nain (c.1607-77). A
peasant family
The Le Nain brothers are best known for such unsentimental 'low-life' scenes.
Painted in 1642, according to records of a now vanished date and signature,
and inherited by the 3rd Earl from his uncle, the 1st Earl of Thomond,
in 1774.
Titian (c.1487/90-1576). Man in a Black Plumed Hat
Probably painted c.1515-20, and possibly listed at Petworth in 1671, this is an undoubted
original despite its abraded surface.
Johann Zoffany, RA (1733-1810). Mrs Cibber as the Widow Bellmoour in Arthur
Murphy's 'The Way to Keep Him'
The play was first produced at Drury Lane in 1760, and Mrs Cibber played the part until 1764.
Chimneypiece:
The 3rd Earl installed a new chimneypiece in 1832 (probably plain marble similar to those in the North
Gallery). The present late 17th century carved chimneypiece had been 'lying by in an attic', before it was
placed here by the 2nd Lord Leconfield, probably in the early1870s concurrently with the room's redecoration
by Morris & Co.
Sculpture:
Head of Aphrodite, the 'Leconfield Aphrodite'
Parian marble, Greek, fourth century BC, attributed to Praxiteles, one
of the greatest of Greek sculptors. Originally the head of a full-length statue
of Aphrodite (Venus), and probably bought from Gavin Hamilton in 1755.
The groove across the top of the head probably held a bronze fillet; the
nose and upper lip havve been restored and the surface has been repolished
by a mid-eighteenth-century restorer, possibly Bartolomero Cavaceppi (1716-99).
Furniture:
Giltwood pier-glass, c.1755-60
The largest and most exotic of the magnificent group attributable to Whittle and Norman.
Black and gold pier-table
One of a group of similar tables made for the 6th Duke, 'c.1690'. The top could
be one of the 'two fine Jaspar Stone Tables' supplied by Grinling Gibbons in 1695.
Carved walnut armchairs and sofa
Upholstered with yellow damask are English, c.1760, in the Louis XV style. Given that
Paul Saunders was paid £111 in 1759 for unknown work, and that he supplied at least two other
sets of 'French Elbow Chairs' in 1763, it is conceivable that he was also responsible for this set.
Mahogany piano
In the form of a side-table by Broadwood, 1807. The 3rd Earl hired a 'Grand Piano
forte' from Broadwood in 1807 and bought it in 1808 for £78.15s
Mahogany desk
English, c.1810, of 'Carlton House' form, named after Carlton House, Pall Mall, the
palace of the future George IV.
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