{"id":19514,"date":"2023-03-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=41335"},"modified":"2023-03-22T10:36:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T09:36:39","slug":"tour-harewood-house-in-yorkshire","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/tour-harewood-house-in-yorkshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour Harewood House in Yorkshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Renaissance Old Masters to the largest collection of Thomas Chippendale furniture in the world, riches abound at Harewood House in Yorkshire\u2019s West Riding. Feature Celia Lyttelton. Photographs Christopher Drake <\/p>

By kirstylyons\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 22 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The great houses of England did not spring \u2018fully armed\u2019 from architects\u2019 drawing boards; they evolved, as successive owners often changed plans, demolished finished portions and rebuilt in new styles, according to the vagaries of fashion and family fortunes. Harewood House, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is no exception.<\/p>\n

Edwin Lascelles, a politician and landowner, began building Harewood House in 1759, having inherited a substantial fortune from his father who had grown rich from commerce in Barbados. He chose the south-facing slope, commanding a broad sweep of the West Riding; he not only had a keen eye for romantic scenery, but also for good drainage and water supply. To begin with, Harewood House was an 18th-century English adaptation of the style conceived by the 16th-century Venetian, Andrea Palladio.<\/p>\n

Lascelles gave the work to John Carr of York and while Carr was first building the stables, Lascelles showed Carr\u2019s drawings for the house to Robert Adam, who was bent on imbuing English architecture<\/a> with his own neoclassical vision. When it came to the exterior, Lascelles warned Adam against extravagance, yet Adam was given free rein inside, and his hand can be seen everywhere.<\/p>\n

The varied splendour of Adam\u2019s decorative scheme is clear in the main rooms: from the martial Roman severity of the Doric Entrance Hall and Corinthian civility of the Library to the magnificent Gallery. Extending over the whole west end of the house, the 77-feet-long Gallery was inspired by the ruins of Palmyra, Syria.<\/p>\n

The plasterwork-embellished ceiling has painted insets picked out in pink and Prussian blue to highlight Biagio Rebecca\u2019s mythological paintings. The Gallery also shows off two of Harewood\u2019s outstanding features: the Italian masterpieces and a collection of Chippendale looking glasses.<\/p>\n

When working on the house\u2019s interior, Adam chose a judicious set of painters, stuccoists and cabinetmakers that included Thomas Chippendale, from nearby Otley. Chippendale\u2019s work at Harewood House is of great importance.<\/p>\n

His best-known pieces are here and reveal the range and scope of his oeuvre \u2013 from the beechwood chairs in the Entrance Hall and carved and painted trompe l\u2019oeil pelmets in the Gallery to the State Bed, which was the most expensive of its kind when it was made in the 1790s.<\/p>\n

It cost \u00a3250 with further costs for the hangings (\u00a3150), for the yellow silk damask hangings (\u00a350) and pair of gilded cornices<\/a> (\u00a326). This combination of Adam\u2019s decorative scheme and Lascelles\u2019 strong will made Harewood a house that was \u2013 and still is \u2013 admired far and wide.<\/p>\n

Even though the house was gradually modernised (with piped water and water closets \u2013 mahogany for the gentry and oak for the servants), there were few art acquisitions, until a curious twist of fate enlarged Harewood\u2019s collection significantly. During the First World War, the 6th Earl, Henry Lascelles, who was serving in the Grenadier Guards, bumped into his notorious great-uncle Lord Clanricarde at the St James\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n

Out of good manners, Lascelles went to talk to him for an hour before luncheon. A few months later, his great-uncle died and left his \u00a32.5 million fortune, the derelict Portamac Castle in County Galway and his collection of Italian and Flemish Old Masters to Henry.<\/p>\n

With his new-found wealth, Henry added Italian masterpieces by the likes of Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Pollaiuolo and Tintoretto to his collection, which became one of the finest in private hands in England.<\/p>\n

Currently, the house is the family seat of the 8th Earl and Countess of Harewood. David, the 8th Earl, is a film and TV producer whose credits include Inspector Morse, and while Harewood may have narrowly missed out on being Downton Abbey<\/a>, the house has recently been the backdrop to the ITV series Victoria.<\/p>\n

It is an appropriate setting given that Harewood was visited by the real Princess Victoria in 1835 before her coronation<\/a>. \u2018I hope that millions of people will watch the series and say, \u201cI\u2019d like to go and see that\u201d,\u2019 says David. Because, as he explains, the challenge to Harewood is threefold: \u2018keeping it alive, keeping it relevant and keeping it solvent.\u2019<\/p>\n

With this in mind, the 2017 permanent exhibition at the house celebrates the filming of Victoria at Harewood \u2013 featuring costumes from the drama and exhibits including personal items owned by Queen Victoria herself.<\/p>\n

The Countess of Harewood, Diane Lascelles, is also well known as artist Diane Howse, and keeps the house relevant and alive with a programme of exhibitions<\/a> of mainly contemporary art in the Terrace Gallery. \u2018I dislike the word \u2018heritage\u2019, as if Harewood is preserved in aspic,\u2019 she says. \u2018Living here it is not about maintaining a lifestyle; my principle is that the house is for the public to enjoy.\u2019<\/p>\n

\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
A grand vista of Harewood House viewed from the sweeping grounds over to the north front entrance of the 18th-century mansion.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Entrance Hall was designed by architect Robert Adam as a noble antechamber with decorative Chippendale chairs around the edge. It is dominated by Jacob Epstein\u2019s Adam statue carved from alabaster in 1938\u201339.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
Queen Victoria\u2019s personal belongings. A portrait miniature by the English School after Winterhalter, a silver travel writing set, and a gold enamelled pocket watch given by her mother, the Duchess of Kent.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Main Library features an overmantel relief by William Collins while the landscape paintings are by 18th-century artist Nicholas Dall and JMW Turner. The original Robert Adam ceiling and exquisite plasterwork complement the Victorian mahogany bookcases added to the library by Sir Charles Barry.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Gallery is the showcase for the Italian Renaissance and Mannerist paintings. In the foreground are ormolu-mounted celadon vases on the marble-topped console table. Notice the Chippendale pelmets carved to imitate heavy fabric \u2013 the only \u2018curtains\u2019 in the room.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
The East Bedroom houses a green and gold japanned dressing commode by Thomas Chippendale, with a serpentine fitted frieze drawer above two doors that enclose the drawers with a clothes press to match. The two open arm Chippendale chairs were re-covered in the 1920s by the 6th Earl of Harewood who hand-stitched every cover himself.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Harewood\"<\/picture><\/div>
The Chippendale bed in the State Bedroom is an intricate architectural construction of gilt and carved wood. The satinwood secretaire and matching commode are inlaid with exquisite marquetry.<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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