Art collections of Holkham Hall

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Holkham Hall in Norfolk has extensive contents which include:

Collections

Simplified, unscaled plan of the piano nobile at Holkham, showing the four symmetrical wings at each corner of the principal block. South is at the top of the plan. 'A' Marble Hall; 'B' The Saloon; 'C' Sculpture Gallery, with octagonal tribunes at each end; 'D' Dining room (the classical apse, gives access to the tortuous and discreet route by which the food reached the dining room from the distant kitchen), 'E' The South Portico; 'F' The Library in the self-contained family wing.

Uniquely the house was designed around the art collection acquired (a few works were commissioned) by Thomas Coke 1st Earl of Leicester during his Grand Tour of Italy during 1712–18. To complete the scheme it was necessary to send Matthew Brettingham the younger to Rome between 1747–54 to purchase further works of art.

Much thought went into the placing of sculptures and paintings, involving subtle connections and contrasts in the mythological and historical characters and stories depicted. The state rooms were designed with symmetrical arrangments of doors, windows and fireplaces, this meant that some walls have false doors to balance real doors. This need for balance and harmony extended to the placing os sculpture, paintings and furniture. Each art work being balanced by a piece of similar size though sometimes of contrasting subject matter. One example are the two paintings commissioned by Thomas Coke above the fireplaces in the Saloon Tarquin Raping Lucretia & Perseus and Andromeda, in the first painting a man the last king of Rome is violating a woman, in the second painting a man is rescuing a woman from being killed.

The design of the house was a collaborative effort between Thomas Coke, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and William Kent, with Matthew Brettingham the elder acting as the on site architect. The house was built between 1736-1764, with work on the interiors only completed in 1773. By which time all the men had died, this left Thomas's widow, Lady Margaret Tufton, Countess of Leicester, (1700-1775) to oversee the completion of the House.

The works collected in Italy include: sculpture, paintings, mosaics, books, manuscripts and old master drawings (most of which have been sold). The books included one of Leonardo da Vinci’s note books now known as the Codex Leicester which was sold from the collection in 1980.

Sculpture

The collection of 60 Ancient Roman marble sculptures is amongst the finest in any private collection in the world. The collection consists of both life size and greater than life size statues and busts of Roman deities and ancient Romans, plus other sculptures. Most have been repaired to varying extents. The full length statues are mainly displayed in the Sculpture Gallery along with busts which are also to be found through out the State Rooms.

The Sculpture Gallery is a tripartite room over 105 feet long, consisting of two plain-domed octagonal tribunes with elaborate entablatures and are linked by arches to the coffered-apses at either end of the rectangular central room. The Northern Tribune has large niches in the corners that extent down to floor level to take large sculptures on plinths, there are busts in the open pediments above the two doors. The Southern Tribune has bookcases in the corners, which like the doors have open pediments to take busts, above the window in plaster is the year 1753. The statue niches in the central room rise from dado level, two in each of the apses and three either side of the fireplace the central one of which is larger than the flanking ones. The elaborately carved chimneypiece carved by Joseph Pickford is of white marble with coloured panel, is surmounted by a niche with a carved pedimented frame, all the other niches are plain. The busts sit on brackets projecting from the walls, the central palladian window is framed by elaborate corinthian columns and pilasters, the room has a gilt cornice around the plain ceiling.

Sculptures marked with an * were purchased by Thomas Coke on his Grand Tour, any marked # were purchased by Matthew Brettingham the younger.

The Roman statues include:

  • Southern apse of the Sculpture Gallery: Satyrs one playing a flute# & one wearing a pigskin#.
  • South of the Sculpture Gallery fireplace: Meleager#, Marsyas# & Poseidon/Neptune#.
  • Above the Sculpture Gallery fireplace: Apollo*.
  • North of the Scupture Gallery fireplace: Dionysus/Bacchus#, Artemis/Diana* & Aphrodite/Venus#.
  • Northern apse of the Sculpture Gallery: Athena/Minerva# and Demeter/Ceres#.
  • North Tribune: Isis# repaired with a head from another statue, Livia#, statue repaired with a head of Lucius Verus* & unidentified man wearing a toga (purchased as Lucius Antonius)*.
  • Marble Hall in the niches of the apse: statue repaired with a head of Septimus Severus#, an Ephebos restored as a Satyr#, a heavily restored Satyr playing cymbals* & a heavily restored statue of Julia Mamaea*.
  • Private Rooms: Fortuna# (purchased as Isis) and a torso of a draped male (purchased as Jupiter*, it was this statue that William Kent intended to restore and place in the centre of the stairs in the Marble Hall).

The Roman busts include depictions/portraits of:

Other Roman sculptures include:

  • The Sculpture Gallery: Between Apollo and the fireplace relief of Julius Caesar# in profile.
  • The South Vestible: Flanking the North Door, Altar of Caius Calpurnius Cognitus* & Cinerarium of Petronius Hedychrus*.
  • Private Rooms: Profile relief of Carneades#, A statuette of the Nile river god#, Sarcophagus of T. Flabius Hermetes#, Marble Oscillum# depicting a cavorting satyr, A Herma# & fragments of a sarcophagus decorated with sea-creatures*.

There are several sculptures dating from the Post-Roman era:

Paintings

The present Earl has restored the paintings to the positions designed for them (although Titian's Venus and the Lute Player was sold in 1931 and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art):

  • The Drawing Room: above the fireplace Pietro da Pietri's Madonna in Gloria, two works by Melchior d'Hondecoeter flanking the fireplace of fighting birds, left of the fireplace Gaspar Poussin's The Storm & above the doors four landscapes by Jan Frans van Bloemen, right of the fireplace Claude Lorrain's Apollo flaying Marsyas, in the centre of the east wall Jonathan Richardson's portrait of Thomas Coke 1st Earl of Leicester in the robes of the Order of the Bath & in the centre of the west wall Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger's portrait of Sir Edward Coke founder of the family's fortune.
  • The North State Bedroom: Jonathan Richardson's portrait of Lady Margaret Tufton countess of Leicester & Edward Viscount Coke, Jonathan Richardson's portrait of Thomas Coke 1st Earl of Leicester & portrait of William Heveningham (he was Thomas Coke's grandfather).
  • The Chapel: the east wall above the altar Guido Reni's The Assumption of the Virgin flanked by Giovanni Battista Cipriani's paintings of St. Anne & St. Cecila, in the west gallery, Carlo Maratta's Virgin Holding a Book, 16th century Head of Christ by an unknown painter of the Milanese School, above the fireplace Giorgio Vasari's portrait of Pope Leo X, Bernardino Luini's Holy Family with St John the Baptist, Francesco Mazzuola's Penitent Magdalen, in the manner of van Dyke Archbishop Laud, the south wall Mattia Preti's The Adoration of the Magi, Andrea Sacchi's Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael, Giovanni Lanfranco's The Angel appearing to Joseph, on the north wall Carlo Maratta's The Virgin reading with St. John, Pietro da Cortona's A scriptural piece from the history of Jacob.
  • The Manuscript Library: above the fireplace Francesco Trevisani's portrait of Thomas Coke on his Grand Tour.
  • Lady Leicester's Sitting Room: Canaletto's View of the Palace of St Mark, Venice, with preparations for the Doge's Wedding in the overmantle & four views of Rome by Gaspar van Wittel.
  • The private rooms contain many paintings, including Andrea Casali's portraits of Thomas Coke and his wife and Rosalba Carriera's portraits of Edward Viscount Coke and his wife Lady Mary Coke. In 1716 Thomas Coke commissioned Sebastiano Conca's The Elysian Fields, in which Coke is depicted as Orpheus.

Old master drawings

Sadly most of the old master drawings have been sold, including: Raphael's Cartoon of the Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist, Bernini's Design for the Tomb of Cardinal Carlo Emanule Pio da Carpi, Pietro da Cortona's Christ on the Cross and Assembly of the Gods, Nicholas Poussin's View of the Tiber Valley and Wooded Landscape with River God Gathering Fruit, Guido Reni's Head of a Young Woman Looking Up, Jusepe de Ribera Adoration of the Shepherds, Frans Snyders Wild Boar at Bay, Paolo Veronese's Allegorical Female Figure Holding a Sceptre & Globe.

Books & manuscripts

  • The Long Library: Contains 2,000 of the 10,500 books & manuscripts bought by Thomas Coke although 'Coke of Norfolk' also acquired several volumes when on his Grand Tour. All are bound in leather with gilt titles (the collection has around 15,000 books in total some of which are modern). The core of the library are books from and on Italy, especially the Renaissance.
  • The North Tribune which houses around 300 of the largest books in the collection, elephant folio volumes which include architectural books of which the collection has several examples.
  • The Manuscript Library: Was created in the early 19th century by 'Coke of Norfolk' from a former ante-room in the Family-Wing. The books are housed in four built-in bookcases in the style of Kent, flanking the doors of the side walls. There are 700 titles, of which 209 are incunabula. Holkham Manuscript 311 is an illuminated manuscript of Virgil's Aeneid dated c1500 just one of many still in the collection. Many manuscripts have been sold from the collection including Holkham Manuscript 48 Dante's Divine Comedy, Italian 14th century, now in the Bodleian Library.
  • The Classical Library: Created in 1816 by 'Coke of Norfolk' from the former main bedroom in the Family-Wing. There are 558 literary, theological and legal manuscipts in this room, dating from the 12th to 18th centuries. Including some from of Sir Edward Coke's, including ones related to the settlement of North America, Coke helped draft the charter of the Virginia Company. Other of his legal documents includes a 15th century copy of Magna Carter. There are is also a collection of Civil War and Commonwealth pamphlets.
  • There is an extensive archive of material relating to the building of the House and the acquistion of the collections. Including letters from both Matthew Brettingham the elder, the executive architect and Baron Lovell (Thomas Coke's title before becoming Earl of Leicester), as well as several architectural plans and elevations showing various alternative designs including many drawings by William Kent. In 1761 Matthew Brettingham the elder published The Plans, Elevations and Sections, Of Holkham in Norfolk in which he down played the role of Kent in the design of the House. The correspondence with Matthew Brettingham the younger whilst he was in Italy is extensive, there was much discussion about potential purchases of art works and their cost, also his account book survives. The first consignment of sculptures being sent in 1749, due to the difficulty in getting permission from the Papal authorities to export the sculpture of Isis the second consignment was not dispatched until 1751. After which sculptures were export annually until the last shipment in 1754.

Furnishings

  • The North Dining Room: Is 27 feet square, with a large apse in the middle of the south wall. The two fireplaces are carved from Sicilian Jasper & white marble, with reliefs from Aesop's Fables, the eastern fireplace with The Bear and the Bee-Hive and the western The Sow and the Wolf, are carved by Thomas Carter. A large classical style porphyry table from Italy in the apse, a porphyry wine-cooler, an elaborate silver candelabra over three feet in height sits in the centre of the circular dining table and the richly patterned Axminster carpet mirrors the form of the shallow dome in the ceiling above.
  • The Sculpture Gallery: the two cut-glass crystal chandeliers in the tribunes are English dated c1760.
  • The Saloon: Is 28 by 40 feet, the ceiling with its deep coffered-cove rises to 32 feet in height, on the north wall are two fireplaces of Sicilian and white marble flanking the large central door with a segmental open pediment. The walls are clad in red patterned Genoa velvet. In the middle of the east and west walls are William Kent side tables whose tops are covered by geometrical mosaics from Hadrian's Villa and between the five windows are four sets of mirrors with elaborately carved & gilt frames combined with girandoles and matching pier-tables below, the seat furniture gilt and velvet upholstered is by William Kent. There are four gilt wood Torchieres flanking the fireplaces.
  • The Green State Bedroom: tapestries of the four continents, Asia is a Mortlake tapestry, Europe, America & Africa are Brussel's tapestries, between the windows are two small Mortlake tapestries of Sleep & Vigilance, the canopied bed and most of the furniture is to designs by William Kent.
  • The North State Bedchamber: has a table with a top made from a mosaic from Hadrian's Villa.
  • The State Sitting Room: 17th century Brussel's tapestries designed by Peemans, depicting the twelve months of the year.
  • The Long Library: Is 54 by 18 feet, completed in 1741, has a chimneypiece carved by one Marsden, the overmantle contains a mosaic from Hadrian's Villa depicting a lion fighting a leopard, this was acquired by 'Coke of Norfolk' in Rome in c1772. The built in bookcases were designed by William Kent, there are four matching large bookcases with open pediments flanking the fireplace and the central window of the west wall, plus eight smaller bookcases flanking the windows in the south and north walls, and at each end of the east and west walls.
  • The Venetian Room (in the guest wing): has 18th century tapestries with a pastoral theme with playing cupids.
  • The Chapel: The cedar-wood gallery supported by two corinthian columns was carved by James Millar. The paintings above the altar are enclosed in an alabaster reredos with engaged-corinthian columns flanking the central painting and matching pilasters the side paintings.

References

  • Schmidt, Leo and others (2005). "Holkham". Munich, Berlin, London, New York: Prestel
  • Angelicoussis, Elizabeth (2001). The Holkham Collection of Classical Sculptures: Veelag Philipp von Zabern
  • Hussey, Christopher (1955), Pages 131-146, English Country Houses: Early Georgian 1715-1760 London, Country Life
  • Pevsner, Nicholas & Wilson, Bill (1999) Pages 413-424, Buildings of England: Norfolk 2: North-West and South London, Penquin
  • Wilson, Michael I. (1984), William Kent: Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685-1748 London, Routledge & Kegan Paul
  • W. O. Hassall, ed. (1970), The Holkham library: illuminations and illustrations in the manuscript library of the Earl of Leicester, Oxford, The Roxburghe Club
  • Mortlock, D.P., (2006) The Holkham Library: A History and Description, Oxford, The Roxburghe Club
  • Sayer, Michael (1993), Pages 144-146, The Disintegration of a Heritage: Country Houses and their Collections 1979-1992, Norwich, Michael Russell
  • Brettingham, Matthew, (1761), The Plans, Elevations and Sections, Of Holkham in Norfolk London, J. Haberkorn
  • Hiskey, Christine, (1997), The Building of Holkham Hall: Newly Discovered Letters published in Architectural History Volume 40: 1997 the journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain
  • Scott, Jonathan, (2003), Page 73-82 The Pleasures of Antiquity: British Collectors of Greece and Rome Yale University Press
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