Real People Revealed in Portraits and Objects 21 March to 4 October 2020 Your Companion Guide to Our Exhibition
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Real people revealed in portraits and objects 21 March to 4 October 2020 Your Companion Guide to our exhibition 1 North Drive Have you ever looked at a WELCOME TO CHATSWORTH Angela Conner saw her friend portrait, curious to discover Elisabeth Frink as ‘a Roman more about the person staring Generations of the Cavendish warrior, not fierce, but strong’ back at you? Or glanced at an family have lived at Chatsworth for and aimed to capture that object and wondered what it almost 500 years. All that you see quality in this portrait. meant to someone, or why they is the result of layers and layers of kept it? individual choices made throughout In her work, Frink explored the the centuries. Though their lives strengths and weaknesses of Stories both unexpected and might feel a million miles from yours human nature – sorrow and fascinating will be shared in we’re hoping you will look at all the salvation; pain and compassion; this year’s exhibition through people you encounter along the terror and tolerance. Frink said way and find stories that mean pairings of people and things in something to you. that the Tribute Heads were the house, all of which have a about ‘peace and freedom of link to Chatsworth in some way. Portraits, even from centuries ago, spirit: people who have been are the selfies and family photos through the horrors and got Look at the faces in the of our time and we can all relate through to the other side.’ paintings and sculptures to that. – people whose lives were captured at a moment in time. Our knowledgeable team of guides Appearances can be deceptive, are here to share so much more Dame Elisabeth Frink and we’ll shed light on things than we could include in this guide 1 (1930–1993) not apparent at first glance - so do please ask questions, dwell the human, the intimate and the for longer, and make your own commonplace. connections between people Tribute I and things. Sculptor Angela Conner How a person is represented made this portrait bust in an artwork can tell us about of Dame Elisabeth Frink. their personality, fashion or She took Frink’s strength even the politics of the time. and used it to tell us about Sometimes a portrait reveals her. Compare it to Frink’s as much about the artist as it Use this companion guide and sculpture Tribute I, which does about the person in the the corresponding numbered is not a portrait of a real portrait. The way a portrait keyholes to follow the exhibition. person, but a tribute to is displayed – and what it is Below each image we have human suffering. displayed alongside – can named the person or people reveal new meaning. in them, and the dates of their lives when we know them. More information is on pages 21 and 22, including details of materials, all of the artists, and the generous lenders to the exhibition: Burghley House Elisabeth Preservation Trust, C.W. Sellors, Frink in Dellasposa Gallery and The her studio Portland Collection. 2 3 Grotto Grotto ‘I’m actually most interested In this group of portraits and ‘I find my way through the in looking beneath culture to objects, things are not what roots of colour, especially the nature underneath. What is they seem. The two busts were trinity of blue, red and yellow, it about the human brain that made by sculptor Charles Skin Deep is one big colour test. can welcome some and reject Cordier in the 19th century. others? It’s fascinating, and Cordier observed the features When I open the kiln I am has roots in biological evolution of African models and used travelling the globe and and quests for safety and European ideals of expression see friends from Ecuador, belonging.’ and poise. The male figure was Ethiopia, Colombia, Japan, Natasha Daintry an artists’ model called Seid Korea, China, Spain, Italy, Enkess, while the female ‘Venus’ England, Ireland, Denmark, is most probably a combination Saïd Abdallah Greece, India and Sri Lanka, of several women. Cordier’s (Seid Enkess) the difference between us is a process, and the fact the (mid 1800s) gentle smattering of blue, red sculptures were commissioned for and yellow.’ the ethnographic gallery at the The ‘Venus Natasha Daintry Natural History Museum in Paris, Africaine’ means that the story behind these figures is much more complex than it first appears. In contrast to Cordier’s generalised approach, Natasha Daintry considers the perception of race in a highly personal way. Nearby, her artwork is a colourful Skin Deep arrangement of small ceramic 2 by Natasha Daintry pots. This contemporary piece, called Skin Deep, is about the relationship between the artist and her son. Her son, adopted from Ethiopia, is black whilst she is a white European woman. Daintry made this work to explore the colour of their skin and their family closeness. ‘A superb Sudanese appeared in my studio. Within a fortnight I made this bust.’ Charles Cordier 4 5 Chapel Corridor Chapel Corridor The portrait miniature was already over 100 years old when the Duke dropped and broke it. The captivating image of Rachel de Ruvigny was first painted by Anthony van Dyck, and later copied by master-miniaturist Jean Petitot. Rachel was a beautiful, witty and popular member of the Royal Court, depicted here as an otherworldly figure. Billowing drapery surrounds her as she touches a fragile and bubble-like orb. Look closely and you will see that the portrait of Rachel bears scars from the repairs made by the miniaturist Henry Bone. Despite William, 5th Duke of its damage, this precious object Thomas Cavendish Traverse board 3 Devonshire has been treasured by successive 4 (1560–1592) (1748–1811) generations. Rachel de Ruvigny (1603–1640) Thomas Cavendish was an and places he encountered. explorer from a distant branch How should we remember him Rich colours and textures of the Cavendish family, and he now, with hindsight? We can enliven these portraits - faces certainly has an air of derring- praise Cavendish’s achievements of people who lived hundreds do about him in this portrait. as a circumnavigator, but we of years ago. Despite coming However, there are stories can balance that view with the from a powerful political behind his tales of adventure violence of his actions and the family, the 5th Duke was that bring into question how we human cost of his voyages. not an ambitious politician. remember such figures from Actually, he is often defined the past. The curious navigational tool by his marriages to Georgiana alongside is something that would Spencer and, later, Elizabeth Cavendish set out to circle the have been familiar to sailors like Foster. globe, following Sir Francis Drake. Cavendish. A compass or stars He pursued wealth, with the aim indicated the direction they The 5th Duke was a of identifying and exploiting new were travelling, and they could connoisseur of art, and many territories for their resources. measure speed by throwing of the objects at Chatsworth Quickly becoming a skilled overboard a marked rope tied to would have been part of his navigator and expedition leader, a heavy object. They could record daily life, including this portrait under his command he brought both these measurements on the miniature. death and destruction to people traverse board. 6 7 Oak Room Chapel Imagine Henry running this 5 wooden rosary through his hands Edmund Marsden as a source of comfort and Worked at Chatsworth reassurance, at a time of great in early 1800s personal angst as he took the decision to separate the country from the Catholic Church. We all have our own way of finding Cask end peace at difficult moments in our lives … with some 500 years between us and Henry VIII, this remains true as ever. Surveying the scene from under the balcony you will find a large drawing of Henry VIII. Obsessed with providing a male heir as he grew older, in the portrait his own father stands over his left This is Chatsworth’s cellarman, shoulder. The original portrait Edmund Marsden. He was used to be at Chatsworth, before usher and brewer in the being gifted to the National Servants’ Hall at Chatsworth Portrait Gallery in the 1950s. in the 1830s. We still have the horn cups and the drinking trolley that you can see in the King Henry VIII painting. The little barrel would 6 (1491–1547) have contained ‘small beer’, a weak beer that was served to all staff during meals, and included as part of their pay. Rosary The trolley dispensing beer Contrast the simplicity of the The oldest object in the would have run on wheels up portrait with the splendour exhibition is King Henry VIII’s and down the long servants’ of carving on this large oak rosary, dating from the 1500s table. beer barrel end. Featuring the and each boxwood sphere Cavendish family coat of arms, is carved to tell a story in Behind the naive style of painting Edmund would have handled it miniature. Rarely displayed lies a heartwarming story of daily as part of his job working in at Chatsworth, take this community. There are few the cellar. opportunity to get up close paintings of the workforce at to what is the most intimate Chatsworth, and this one was In the spirit of Edmund, do take a and personal of keepsakes, made when Edmund’s colleagues seat, and raise a cup to friends, once belonging to the Tudor had a ‘whip round’ for his family and colleagues who came monarch at a time of division in retirement.