Apsley House
Apsley House is a prestigious town house in London which was the residence of the Duke of Wellington , who defeated Napoleon in Waterloo. It is now a museum and houses an important art collection. The house at Hyde Park Corner was built by the architect Robert Adam between 1771 and 1778. It was the first imposing residence after passing the Customs Gates of Knightsbridge, which gave it the popular address “No. 1 London ”.
In 1817 the building was purchased by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , and has since been the family's London city residence. The new owner had the architect Benjamin Dean Wyatt make significant changes to the exterior. In the course of this work, the building received its classicist porch and its brickwork made of honey-colored limestone . Inside, the Waterloo Gallery was added for the Duke's paintings.
In 1947 Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington , (1885–1972) bequeathed Apsley House to the state, and since 1952 it has been open to the public as the Wellington Museum, although the current Duke of Wellington still has an apartment there. One of the most valuable exhibits are the many gifts that were given to the 1st Duke of Wellington in the course of his life. The Waterloo Gallery also has a large number of valuable paintings such as the early Velazquez, The Water Seller of Seville . 83 of the total of 200 paintings fell into the hands of the English in 1813 after the Battle of Vitoria , which they had won against Joseph Bonaparte . They actually belonged to Spain's royal collection, but in retrospect the Spanish King Ferdinand VII officially donated the works of art to the Wellington family.
The painting collection includes works by:
- America: John Singleton Copley
- Great Britain: Sir William Beechey , John Burnet , George Dawe , John Hoppner , Edwin Landseer , Sir Thomas Lawrence , Sir David Wilkie
- Holland: Pieter de Hooch , Jan van Huysum , Nicolaes Maes , Willem van Mieris , Antonis Mor , Aert van der Neer , Adriaen van Ostade , Cornelis van Poelenburgh , Jan Steen , Willem van de Velde the Younger , Jan Victors
- Flanders: Paul Bril , Adriaen Brouwer , Jan Brueghel the Elder , Anthony van Dyck , Adam Frans van der Meulen , Rubens , David Teniers the Younger
- France: Claude Lorrain , Claude-Joseph Vernet
- Germany: Hans von Aachen , Adam Elsheimer , Anton Raphael Mengs
- Italy: Leandro Bassano , Giuseppe Cesari , Carlo Cignani , Antonio da Correggio , Luca Giordano , Antiveduto Grammatica , Guercino , Giovanni Paolo Pannini , Guido Reni , Giulio Romano , Salvator Rosa , Francesco Trevisani , Marcello Venusti
- Spain: Diego Velázquez (4), Francisco Goya (1), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (3), Jusepe de Ribera (3)
literature
- Bamber Gascoigne: Encyclopedia of Britain . BCA, London et al. 1993, ISBN 0-333-54764-0 , p. 28.
- Peter Furtado, Nathaniel Harris, Hazel Harrison, Paul Pettit: The Country Life Book of Castles and Houses in Britain . Newnes Books, Twickenham 1986, ISBN 0-600-56400-2 , p. 81.
Individual evidence
- ↑ List from: Apsley House Wellington Museum, Simon Jervis, Maurice Tomlin & Jonathan Voak 1995
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 12 ″ N , 0 ° 9 ′ 6 ″ W.