Touring and Publicizing England’s Country Houses in the Long Eighteenth Century

265 Pages·2018·5.313 MB·English

by  Jocelyn Anderson

Touring and Publicizing England’s
Country Houses in the Long
Eighteenth Century

Touring and Publicizing England’s
Country Houses in the Long
Eighteenth Century
Jocelyn Anderson
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published 2018
© Jocelyn Anderson, 2018
Supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Marc Fitch Fund and the
Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-3497-9
ePub: 978-1-5013-3498-6
ePDF: 978-1-5013-3499-3
Cover design: Irene Martinez Costa
Cover image © Paul Fourdrinier, Blenheim House. Erected at the Publick Expence in
Commemoration of the Victory at Blenheim, and setled on the Great Duke of Marlborough
and his Descendents for ever, hand-colored engraving on Whatman wove paper,
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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For my parents

Contents
Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 ‘For the Numerous Strangers Who Visit’: Tourists’ Itineraries
and Practices 25
2 ‘A Sumptuous Pile of Building’: Remaking the Sights and Spaces
of the House 59
3 ‘Eminent in Public Estimation’: The Transformation of Country
Houses’ Paintings and Sculptures 91
4 ‘A Degree of Taste and Elegance’: Commenting on Country
Houses’ Interiors 127
5 ‘The Beauties of Nature’: Descriptions of Country-House
Gardens and Parks 159
Conclusion 195
Appendix: Country-House Guidebooks 201
Bibliography 206
Index 228
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Luke Sullivan, A View of Wilton in Wiltshire the Seat of the Rt. Hon. Earl of
Pembroke, 1759, engraving, 36.5 × 51.8 cm. Yale Center for British Art, Paul
Mellon Collection. A similar view was engraved for The Modern Universal
British Traveller. 37
1.2 Frontispiece from Charles Burlington et al., The Modern Universal British
Traveller, London: J. Cooke, 1779, engraving, 21.4 × 35.7 cm. © The British
Library Board (10348.l.6). 38
1.3 Thomas Barber the Elder, Mrs Garnett in the Marble Hall, c. 1800, oil on
canvas, 89.5 × 69 cm. © National Trust Images/John Hammond. Mrs
Garnett was the housekeeper at Kedleston from 1766 until 1809, and
she was well known as a guide to the house. She is holding a copy of the
Kedleston guidebook. 47
1.4 The New Inn at Stowe. © National Trust Images/Chris Lacey. 50
1.5 W. Bowley, ‘Hawkstone Inn and Hotel’, illustration from T. Rodenhurst,
A Description of Hawkstone, 10th edn, London: John Stockdale, 1811,
engraving, 12 × 6.6 cm. Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, gift of Phyllis Lambert. 50
1.6 William Mavor, New Description of Blenheim, 3rd edn, London: T. Cadell,
1793, 11.8 × 19 × 1.3 cm. Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal. 55
2.1 Francis Vivares after Thomas Smith of Derby, A South-West view of
Chatsworth, 25 October 1744, engraving and etching, 39.4 x 54.3 cm. Royal
Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017. 65
2.2 Francis Chesham after Paul Sandby, ‘Burleigh the Seat of the Earl of Exeter’,
The Virtuosi’s Museum, 1 August 1780, etching and engraving, 16.3 × 20.7
cm. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. 66
2.3 Francis Chesham after Lord Duncannon, ‘Alnwick-Castle, Looking up the
River’, The Virtuosi’s Museum, 1 November 1780, etching and engraving,
16.4 × 20.5 cm. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 66
2.4 William Angus after William Marlow, ‘Castle Howard in Yorkshire, the
Seat of the Earl of Carlisle’, The Seats of the Nobility and Gentry, 1 February
Illustrations ix
1787, etching and engraving, 15.2 × 20.4 cm. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book
Library, University of Toronto. 67
2.5 William Angus after Lord Duncannon, ‘Blenheim in Oxfordshire the Seat of
the Duke of Marlborough’, The Seats of the Nobility and Gentry, 1 September
1787, etching and engraving, 15.7 × 20.3 cm. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book
Library, University of Toronto. 67
2.6 J. C. Smith after J. Britton (above) and J. Roffe (below), ‘Corsham House,
Wiltshire’, frontispiece from John Britton, An Historical Account of
Corsham House, London: Printed for the Author, 1806, engraving,
16 × 10.6 cm. Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture/Canadian
Centre for Architecture, Montréal, gift of Phyllis Lambert. 72
2.7 James Gandon and M. Darly after Robert Adam, ‘Plan of the Principal
Floor of Kedleston’, Vitruvius Britannicus, London: John Woolfe and James
Gandon, 1767 (with modifications). Ultimately, the southeast and southwest
wings and corridors and the rooms on the south side of the northeast
corridor were not built. 84
2.8 ‘Plan of the principal floor of Blenheim’, Vitruvius Britannicus, London:
Colen Campbell, 1715 (with modifications). 85
2.9 Plans from Thomas Blore, A Guide to Burghley, Stamford: John
Drakard, 1815, engraving, 17.3 × 11.2 cm. Collection Centre Canadien
d’Architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, gift of Phyllis
Lambert. This plate was included in both the abridged and extended
versions of the guidebook. 88
2.10 ‘A Plan of the House & c. of the Right Hon.ble The Earl Temple at
Stowe in Buckinghamshire’, from Benton Seeley’s Stowe: A Description
of the Magnificent House and Gardens, Buckingham: B. Seeley, 1773,
engraving, 27.7 × 51.6 cm. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library,
University of Toronto. 89
3.1 George Farington and William Sharp after Guido Reni, The Doctors
of the Church, 1785, engraving, 64.3 × 42.8 cm. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, gift of Georgiana W. Sargent, in memory of John
Osborne Sargent, 1924. 97
3.2 George Farington and Valentine Green after Giovanni Battista Sassoferrato
(formerly attributed to Domenichino), The Virgin and Child, 1774,
mezzotint, 25 × 17.8 cm. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 98
3.3 The Double Cube Room at Wilton. © Country Life Picture Library.
Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of the fourth Earl of Pembroke and his Family/
Family Piece (c. 1635) is visible in the background. 105