The Pictures at Polesden Lacey Billiard Room Smoking Gun Room Room

Tea Room Picture Corridor West

Courtyard Saloon Picture Corridor South Picture Corridor East

Central Dining Room Hall

Library Blue Cloak Room

Entrance Hall

Study

Areas not open to visitors The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Contents

Introduction 3

The Pictures 4 Dining Room 4 Picture Corridor (West) 7 Picture Corridor (South) 11 Picture Corridor (East) 23 Billiard Room 26 Tea Room 28 Saloon 29 Library 30 Study Lobby 31 Balcony 31 Portico Bedroom 32 2

Below Paintings in the South corridor at Polesden Lacey 3

Introduction

The picture collection at Polesden Lacey was This taste for portraiture also informed the created by two remarkable individuals – the significant Dutch pictures she added to her self-made brewing magnate William McEwan father’s collection, along with some important MP (1827–1913), and the heir to his fortune, landscapes of the same school. Although her eye the redoubtable hostess Margaret Greville DBE for Dutch art is sometimes held in lower regard (1863–1942). The exact relationship between than McEwan’s, the acquisition of Frans van this pair is not known although it is likely that Mieris’s virtuoso self-portrait is attributed to her. McEwan, who adopted Margaret after his marriage to her mother, was in fact her biological Like her father, Mrs Greville relied on art dealers father. Their taste in art is strongly expressed for guidance. However, she also drew on the at Polesden Lacey, which McEwan bought for expertise of Tancred Borenius of University his daughter as a venue for entertaining, and College London, reflecting the increasing demonstrates their delight in exquisite Old reliance of top-end collectors on the advice of Master paintings. The presence of so many academic art historians. His influence is strongly exceptional, albeit relatively small, pictures in felt in the important series of Italian medieval this luxurious country house continues to and renaissance religious works, which were produce a distinctly select, intimate and acquired throughout the 1930s and now hang inviting impression. in the South corridor. Another new element Mrs Greville introduced to the collection were The patriotism that guided McEwan’s 16th-century Flemish, German and French philanthropic activities in his native Scotland portraits. Corneille de Lyon’s courtly likenesses is reflected in some of his choices. The billiard seem to have been held in especially fond room is a showcase of the works he acquired regard, resulting in four acquisitions of pictures by contemporary Scottish artists. In a different by, or attributed to, this particular master. vein, his two Raeburns reflect his interest in the leading Edinburgh portraitist of his grandparents’ Mrs Greville, who used her fortune and generation. Of greatest note, however, are connections to entertain princes, plutocrats and the 17th-century Dutch and Flemish scenes of politicians in great style at Polesden Lacey and everyday life that he began to acquire in earnest in her townhouse on Charles Street, Mayfair, during his semi-retirement from business. These let it be known that while most ‘people leave paintings, which include the beautiful ter Borch their money to the poor, I intend to leave mine and de Hooch, are of the highest merit and to the rich.’ Ever the contrarian, however, the remain the cornerstone of the collection. The philanthropic streak she inherited from McEwan aptness of the tavern-setting in some of his along with her fortune seems to have prevailed, best acquisitions, notably those by Teniers and and the painting collection exists at the heart of Adriaen van Ostade, cannot have been lost on her legacy. The treasures of Polesden Lacey were McEwan, his daughter, or their guests. consolidated with those from Charles Street after Mrs Greville left her estate to the National Trust In certain respects, Mrs Greville’s acquisitions in memory of her father. Her wish was ‘to form a built upon the strengths of her father’s collection. Picture and Art Gallery in a suitable part or parts Once she had come into her inheritance, she of the house’, that should be ‘open to the public bought two further Raeburns (one of them the at all times and … enjoyed by the largest number most expensive picture she ever acquired) and of people’. complemented them with the ensemble of British portraits, which now hangs in the dining-room. John Chu 4 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

The Pictures

The Dining Room

Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1665–1745) Self-portrait, c.1728 NT1246443

Richardson was one of England’s most successful portraitists and art theorists when he painted this likeness of himself in about 1728. He is particularly known for a series of self-portraits made in the decade subsequent to his retirement from professional life. This painting dates to the very beginning of that period and shows him in a confident mood, ready to face the public. Unconventionally for an 18th-century portrait in this format, he wears his hat on his head rather than under his arm, as if stepping into the outside world. Mrs Greville bought the picture in 1916 for £200 and it was one of her very first acquisitions.

Jacob Huysmans (c.1633–96) An Unknown Woman, 1660s NT1246446

The identity of this sitter is unknown although it may be significant that Huysmans, a Flemish painter in Restoration England, was particularly favoured by Queen Catherine of Braganza and her Catholic courtiers. She gestures to a sculpture of the infant god Bacchus to indicate hopes of matrimony, or perhaps marital fecundity.

Benjamin Constant (1845–1902) The Rt Hon. William McEwan (1827–1913), 1900 NT1246445

According to Mrs Greville, this ‘striking likeness’ of her beloved father was the result of six sittings at the Savoy hotel and cost £1,200. Constant, who was enjoying significant success in both London and Paris when the portrait was made in 1900, also attracted the patronage of Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and Pope Leo XIII. Mrs Greville nonetheless claimed that the artist regarded the work as his masterpiece, or ‘chef d’oeuvre’. The Pictures 5

Studio of Sir Peter Lely (1618–80) Frances Teresa Stuart, Duchess of Richmond (1647–1702), c.1670 NT1246444

One of the great beauties of the 17th century. In her younger days, as maid of honour to the exiled Queen Henrietta Maria and then to Catherine of Braganza at the Restoration court, both Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England had tried to make Frances his mistress. Having overcome these amorous attentions and a bout of smallpox, she appears here in triumph as the wife of Charles Stuart, third Duke of Richmond with whom she had eloped in 1667 much to the King’s chagrin. This was painted by Lely’s assistants after the original portrait, now at Goodwood House in Sussex.

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) Isabella Simpson, c.1803–5 NT1246447

Second wife of William Simpson (1742–1808), a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The warm, low light suggests a pause during an evening walk and the sitter’s affinity with nature. A pendant portrait of William by Raeburn remains in the possession of his descendants. Purchased by McEwan for £2,500 in 1869, it was the first of four pictures by this important Scottish artist to enter the collection.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92) Nymph and Piping Boy, c.1785–6 NT1246450

Based on erotic Venetian renaissance and French rococo models, this picture is one of several slightly different versions of this composition by Reynolds. Rarely content merely to repeat a pictorial idea, the artist incorporated small but significant modifications into each reprisal of the subject. This restlessness extended to his experimental approach to the physical make-up of his pictures, which has resulted here in severe cracking. Mrs Greville, like other collectors of her day, was prepared to overlook this disfigurement for the sake of possessing an original Reynolds, paying the large sum of £7,410 for this painting in 1917.

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) George (d.1809) and Maria Stewart (d.1846), c.1800–5 NT1246449

Children of Dugald Stewart of Catrine (1753–1828), Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University, and Helen Carnstoun (d.1838). The tender moral sensibility of these philosophers’ children is conveyed by the way George restrains a hound as it lunges for the rabbit sheltering in Maria’s arms. Bought for £5,500 by Mrs Greville in 1919. 6 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Francesco Bartolozzi (1727–1815) Hannah Anne Gore, Countess Cowper (c.1758–1826), 1798 NT1245837

Daughter of the Lincolnshire landowner, Charles Gore of Horkstow, she married the 3rd Earl Cowper, George Nassau. Published in 1798, this is a coloured stippled engraving after a portrait dating to about 1789, painted either by William Hamilton (1751–1801) or Hugh Douglas Hamilton (c.1740–1808).

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) The Masters Pattisson, 1811–17 NT1246452

Sons of W.H. Pattisson of Witham, Essex. Lawrence began to paint this portrait of William Henry Ebenezer (1801–32) and his brother Jacob Howell (1803–74) in 1811, although it was not completed until 1817 when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy and admired for the ‘sportive play’ of its brushwork. The wild setting refers to the boys’ feeling for nature, as does the integration of the donkey into the group, which the artist asked Mrs Pattisson to send to his London studio especially. On the picture’s completion, the treatment of the faces was felt to ‘bespeak gentle dispositions and minds of a high order’. Mrs Greville paid £12,000 for the piece in 1918.

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) Sir William Macleod Bannatyne (1743–1833), c.1800–5 NT1246451

Scottish judge, knighted in 1823, he was also a founder of the Highland Society and the Bannatyne Club. A literary man, in earlier years Bannatyne had contributed articles to the Edinburgh Mirror and Lounger journals. In light of the prominence given to Bannatyne’s official robes, this portrait may be connected to his promotion to the Bench as Lord Bannatyne in 1799. Bought by McEwan for £367 10s in 1897, this was the second Raeburn added to the collection.

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) The Paterson Children, c.1790–3 NT1246448

George (1778–1846), John (1778–1858) and Margaret (d.1845) Paterson, children of George and Anne Paterson, of Castle Huntly, Perthshire. This complex image of sibling dynamics once formed a light-hearted counterpart to Raeburn’s portraits of the children’s parents. The younger brother, John, distracts his sister by waving the laden branch of an apple tree over her shoulder while he steals fruit from her basket. George fixes the viewer with his gaze: does he protectively embrace his sister out of sincere affection, or is he complicit in the mischief? Acquired by Mrs Greville in 1918, this was the last of the four Raeburns to enter the collection and, at £23,000, by far the highest price she paid for any picture. The Pictures 7

Picture Corridor (West)

Attributed to Gabriel Metsu (1629–67) Head of a Black Woman, 1660s NT1246502

The mystery of this picture’s subject is compounded by its unusual physical make-up. A black woman dressed in luxurious 17th-century Dutch fashions appears in an arched window decorated with a stone frieze of putti carousing with a goat. It is unclear how this Bacchic subject, redolent of drunken revelry, relates to the figure, although it may be intended as an innuendo on the respectability of her profession or character. The woman is painted on a canvas that was subsequently attached to the wooden panel onto which the stone surround was painted. This may have been a patched-up solution by a later hand, designed to rescue a fragment of a damaged canvas. However, Dutch artists of this era are known to have extended and adapted their works in this way as their ideas developed.

Adriaen Isenbrandt (active early 16th century–d.1551) A Reading Magdalen NT1246482

In art, the figure of the Mary Magdalen is conventionally identified by the ivory jar of ointment with which she anointed the body of Christ. Here it appears on the table in front of her. Isenbrandt painted several versions of this composition, which reflects the considerable appeal of her image in Northern Europe in the early 16th century. In this instance she is presented as the serene embodiment of penitence and solemn meditation; modestly dressed, withdrawn in a bedchamber and absorbed in Holy Scripture.

Corneille de Lyon (active 1533–74) King James V of Scotland (1512–42), c.1536 NT1246456

This portrait almost certainly dates to James V’s marital expedition to the French court in 1536, which at that time resided in Lyon. In pursuit of a French princess to cement the Scottish alliance against England, the young king cuts a dash in his black doublet and bonnet adorned with gold aglets and a jaunty white feather. The visit was a success, resulting in his marriage to the daughter of Francis I of France and his induction into the chivalric Order of St Michael, whose insignia he wears on a chain about his neck. Corneille de Lyon, a painter of Dutch origin, had settled in that city by 1533 where he enjoyed extensive royal patronage. 8 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

The Master of St Severin (active c.1485–c.1515) Unknown Woman, c.1500 NT1246464

This richly-dressed woman was painted by an anonymous artist working in Cologne in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, now referred to by his work in the Church of St Severin in that city. The very unusual red background helps pick out the string of prayer beads of the same colour in the woman’s left hand, indicative of her piety. The picture may once have been paired with a matching portrait of her husband to which it would have been attached down the left-hand edge by a hinge, or else used to flank each side of a central panel painted with a religious subject.

Attributed to The Master of the St Bartholomew Altarpiece (active c.1470–1510) Unknown Man, c.1480 NT1246481

The identity of this sitter is unknown although his costume, notably his crimson cap worn just-so and pinned with a jewel, indicates that he was a man of fashion. He may well have been a resident of the prosperous city of Cologne, since the picture has been attributed on stylistic grounds to an anonymous artist working in the city. He is now referred to by the title of one of his major religious works.

Corneille de Lyon (active 1533–74) Unknown Woman, 1535–40 NT1246455

The identity of the sitter in this exquisite portrait is unknown although she is almost certainly one of the noblewomen who attended the French royal court when it resided at Lyon in the later 1530s. The costume is relatively simple, although the picture is distinguished by the inclusion of the sitter’s modestly folded hands and the presence of a green, gold-embroidered curtain; both unusual features in portraits by this artist.

Northern Italian School Unknown Woman, late 15th century NT1246487

The painter of this portrait of an unidentified lady is unknown. However, likenesses on this format were popular in Venice and its environs at the turn of the 16th century, leading to its former, tentative attribution to Jacometto Veneziano (fl.1472–97). A painting on the reverse side of the panel depicts a bearded figure with a book in a niche, perhaps representing Saint Mark. Intriguingly this figure is upside down in relation to the portrait, which may indicate that the panel was once mounted in such a way that it could be flipped over, concealing the lady’s image. The Pictures 9

Attributed to Paulus Moreelse (1571–1638) Unknown Woman, 1620s NT1246476

At once opulent and restrained, this portrait of an unknown woman exemplifies the image of sober prosperity that the wealthy citizens of the Dutch Republic were keen to project in the early 17th century. It is tentatively attributed to the highly successful Paulus Moreelse, who was based in Utrecht but patronised by sitters from across the United Provinces.

Isaack Luttichuys (1616–73) Unknown Woman, c.1654 NT1246483

This artist was born in London to Dutch parents but built his career in Amsterdam, painting still lifes and portraits such as this. The unknown sitter appears on a terrace overlooking a river. It probably represents one of the major waterways to the South-East of Amsterdam – the Vecht or the Amstel – which were lined with the country villas of the city’s wealthiest residents.

Jan van der Heyden (1637–1712) The Church at Maarsen, c.1666–74 NT1246495

Van der Heyden found fame and fortune in 17th-century Amsterdam as an inventor and city planner, but is now better known for his work as a pioneering townscape painter. Always meticulous in his attention to detail, in this instance he has captured every irregularity in the brickwork of the building on the left- hand side of the composition. This is one of a series of views of the village of Maarsen and its surroundings, which he composed between 1666 and 1674 in connection with his dealings with the Huydecopers, a powerful Amsterdam family who owned much of this area. Curiously, van der Heyden kept the majority of these pictures, including this one; possibly to signal his links with an influential patron, or perhaps to advertise the acuity of his eye and technical savvy, which he brought to all aspects of his work. He did not always paint his own figures. In this example he probably called upon Adriaen van de Velde to supply the easy-going atmosphere of country life, introducing pigs basking in the sun and parishioners making their way to church in a leisurely fashion. 10 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

After Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755–1842) A Young Draftsman, after 1773 NT1246478

A copy of a painting dated 1773 by Vigée-Lebrun, now in the City Art Museum of St Louis. The subject, holding a portfolio and port-crayon (an instrument for drawing with chalk), has traditionally been identified as the artist’s younger brother, Louis-Jean-Baptiste Vigée (1758–1820), although it was most likely conceived as a more generalised depiction of a young draftsman of a type highly popular in 18th-century France.

Aert van der Neer (1603/4–77) A Town on a Frozen River, c.1645–50 NT1246471

Van der Neer specialised in paintings that capture the nuanced effects of light on the Dutch landscape; whether lit by the setting sun, the moon or, as here, by the diffuse illumination of a cloudy winter’s day. Despite the obvious chill, leisure is the order of the day, with figures skating and playingkolf (similar to golf) on the ice and fishing through holes neatly cut into its surface.

After Aelbert Cuyp (1620–91) River Maas in Winter with the Huis te Merwede, 18th century NT1246475

An 18th-century copy of a painting by Cuyp dating to the mid-1650s, now in the collection of the Earl of Yarborough. The enduring popularity of this composition, which evokes both the peaceful recreations of the 17th-century Dutch Republic and the country’s turbulent past, is demonstrated through the number of copies it inspired. Numerous day-trippers on skates and sleds congregate around a koekenzopie (refreshment tent) that has been set up on the ice and topped-off with a flutteringstatenvlag (state flag). The medieval Huis te Merwede looms over the festivities, locating the scene close to Dordrecht and evoking the great siege (1418) and flood (1421) of the city, which brought this castle to ruin.

Attributed to Isack van Ostade (1621–49) Gathering Before a Village Inn, 1640s NT1246473

The flurry of social interaction occasioned by the arrival of a group of travellers at a Dutch wayside inn was a typical subject for Van Ostade in the 1640s. The tumbledown architecture is handled with this artist’s characteristic delicacy although the treatment of the figures, especially the white horse at the centre of the scene, is less sensitive than his best compositions, suggesting that this is the work of more than one hand or a good imitator. The Pictures 11

Picture Corridor (South)

Northern Italian School A Portrait of a Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, late 15th century NT1246480

The identity of this sitter is not known although the gold chain about his neck is indicative of high public office. The words on the second line of the inscription on the book are probably an abbreviation of vexillifer justitia, Latin for gonfaloniere di giustizia – a government official charged with enforcing public order in medieval and renaissance Italy. The inscription ‘ludovico’ on the letter in his hand has prompted the tentative identification of the sitter as Giasone de Maino (1435–1519), a legal expert and councillor to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.

Benedetto Diana (Rusconi) (c.1460–1525) The Angel Announcing the Conception of the Virgin to Joachim and the Meeting of Joachim and Anne, c.1510–25 NT1246467

This work was probably once part of a set of pictures telling the story of the life of the Virgin Mary. Known collectively as a predella, these ran along the bottom of a much larger painting as part of the conventional adornment of a church altar. This panel relays two episodes of the narrative in a single scene. On top of a hill, on the left-hand side of the picture, an angel is seen instructing Joachim to meet his barren wife Anne at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. In the foreground, husband and wife are seen conversing in the appointed place, where a joyful embrace resulted in her miraculous pregnancy with the Virgin Mary.

Studio of The Master of the Female Half-Lengths (active first half of the 16th century) The Nativity, 1525–50 NT1246503

Gazing in holy reverence at the Christ Child, the Virgin is shown kneeling in a complex space that recedes through a series of archways towards a distant coastal landscape. Saint Joseph enters from the left, shielding the flame of a candle; a reference to the divine Light of the World that God has entrusted to the couple’s care. The work is the product of an Antwerp studio, whose anonymous master produced holy family pictures such as this and also courtly images of ladies shown at half-length after which he is named. 12 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

After Quinten Metsys (1465/6–1530) An Unknown Man; An Unknown Woman with a Dog, 16th century NT1246453; NT1246454

Early copies of an original pair of portraits by the Antwerp painter Quinten Metsys. The gold chains about the necks of both sitters (presumably a married couple) are emblems of honour, raising them above the usual status of Metsys’s sitters. This may have prompted the artist to take the unusual step of signing his name on the document held by the man – a detail faithfully reproduced here. Scientific analysis reveals that the panels on which these pictures are painted were cut from trees felled in the middle of the 16th century, a little after the death of Metsys.

Pietro Perugino (c.1450–1523) The Miraculous Founding of Santa Maria Maggiore, c.1475 NT1246461

This subtle depiction of the providential beginnings of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome on 5th August 352 dates to the earliest phase of Perugino’s career. Surrounded by prelates, Pope Liberius in his tiara to the left and the Patrician, John, in a turban to the right, witness an unseasonal fall of snow as it gently describes the foundations of a great cruciform building on the ground. The Virgin Mary, who presides over the scene from heaven, had previously appeared to Liberius in a dream, instructing him to found a church on a miraculously revealed site. He solemnly raises a mattock to break the ground and commence this holy task. The panel once formed part of a predella; a set of small narrative images inserted beneath a large devotional painting for the adornment of a church altar. The Pictures 13

Bartolo di Fredi (active 1353–died 1410) The Adoration of the Magi, 1383–8 NT1246460

This depiction of the adoration of the magi, painted for the Church of San Francesco near Siena, owes its irregular shape to its original position within a gothic pinnacle atop a grand, multi-panelled altarpiece. Raised high and set in an elaborate gilt framework, the picture would have been difficult to read clearly from the ground. The artist has nonetheless filled the panel with incident and carefully rendered detail, recounting the veneration of the Virgin and Child in the bottom half of the composition and, at the top, the journey of the wise men to Bethlehem under the guiding star.

Italo-Byzantine School The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, early 14th century NT1246462

The origin of this triptych, which incorporates both medieval Italian and Byzantine styles of painting, is contentious. Most recently it has been identified as the work of a Constantinople-trained master working to the requirements of a patron in Venice, where the visual conventions of the Eastern Orthodox Church continued to be venerated into the 14th century. The individuals who commissioned such objects of private devotion would select saints for depiction according to their own or their family’s namesakes, or who were connected to significant places or events in their lives. These holy personages were to act as the intercessors of their prayers to Christ and the Virgin. This hierarchical conception of the sacred realm is reflected in the tiered organisation of the triptych, with the Madonna and Child enthroned in glory in the central panel and the saints arranged beneath and on each wing.

Francescuccio Ghissi (active 1359–74) The Madonna of Humility, c.1359–74 NT1246459

The small scale of this triptych, relating episodes in the life of the Virgin Mary, tells us that it was designed for private devotion. The momentous events of the Annunciation, Nativity and Crucifixion are all included, yet the central panel, in which the Virgin nurses the Christ Child, presents her gentle humility as the primary focus of religious meditation. This divine quality, which was regarded as the root of all other virtues in medieval theology, is conveyed by the way she sits humbly on the ground. Heavenly glory is nonetheless also strongly conveyed by the richly worked gold ground and her precious blue mantle, which writhes with a complex dragon motif. It was conventional to depict the Virgin’s breast on the outside of her clothing. 14 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Luca di Tommeè (active 1356–89) The Madonna and Child Enthroned, c.1356–62 NT1246463

This panel probably once formed part of a triptych with two wings attached to each side by hinges. It presents for veneration the Virgin and Child enthroned in heavenly splendour, flanked by Saint John the Baptist and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with her signature attribute of a palm frond. Divine glory is conveyed by the Virgin’s starry blue mantle, by the three angels suspending a cloth of honour over the holy pair and, characteristically for a work of the medieval Sienese School, by a radiant and intensely decorative red and gold ground.

Bernaert van Orley (c.1488–1541) Madonna and Child, c.1520–5 NT1246465

In an enclosed garden symbolic of her purity, the Virgin Mary gazes tenderly at the Christ Child whom she nurses in her arms. Van Orley, who was the official painter of Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Hapsburg Netherlands when he painted this picture, is known for developing a distinctive, courtly style out of the traditions of Flemish art and the innovations of the Italian Renaissance. Here the typically Northern treatment of Christ exists alongside an Italianate use of chiaroscuro (light and shade) while the hands of the Virgin are positioned in a graceful arrangement, strongly reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci.

Gerard ter Borch (1617–81) The Introduction, c.1662 NT1246491

A woman in a dazzling white gown delicately accepts the gallant address of a smiling officer in a richly- appointed Dutch interior. Behind them, several more figures congregate around a table, one of whom plays the lute. For all the fine manners on display in this scene, all may not be quite as respectable as it first seems. Military men are generally up to no good in Dutch genre paintings and even music – evocative of love-making – carried disreputable overtones; the phrase ‘to strum the lute’ was even an innuendo for sexual intercourse. Just above the highly-charged point in the composition where the couple join hands, ter Borch has positioned a golden timepiece as a reminder of the vanity of earthly desires. To tantalising effect, it is left up to the viewer to guess how improper this rendez-vous really is. Are we to understand this as an upstanding household threatened by luxury and base instincts, or is this a house of ill-repute, with the woman hovering in the background between the couple as the young woman’s procuress? The Pictures 15

Willem van der Vliet (c.1584–1644) An Unknown Boy, Aged Ten, 1634 NT1246489

The identity of this finely dressed little boy is not known although the artist was born and worked in the city of Delft, providing a clue to his origin. The canvas is inscribed ‘Aeta 10’, indicating the boy’s age.

Ludolf Backhuysen (1631–1708) A Dutch States Yacht and Fishing Boats off a Jetty, 1660–1708 NT1246486

Squally conditions and bold effects of light and shade bring a sense of drama to this 17th-century Dutch coastal scene. At the centre of the composition, the bright sail of a States Yacht is picked out against a dark cloud. These speedy vessels were used to convey dignitaries across the Republic’s innumerable watercourses in comfort and magnificence. Thestatenvlag (state flag) flutters patriotically as an ensign on the ornate stern, reflecting the pride of the Dutch in their maritime power, which was then at its height. The standard at the peak of the spit supporting the head of the mainsail bears the colours of the city of Muiden, suggesting the origin of the commission of this picture. 16 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Bernardo Strozzi (1581–1644) A Venetian Gentleman, 1630s NT1246488

The identity of this gentleman is unknown although the fashion of his sumptuously-painted costume dates the picture to the 1630s when Strozzi was working in Venice, giving rise to its current title. The picture is the earliest recorded acquisition of an Old Master for the collection by Mrs Greville, who romantically referred to its subject as a ‘cavalier’.

Aelbert Cuyp (1620–91) A Landscape with a Herdsman and Bull, 1650s NT1246477

This gentle, sheeny riverside landscape is suffused with the golden light for which this artist is particularly admired. The sheer cliffs and hilly terrain depicted here, so uncharacteristic of Cuyp’s native city of Dordrecht, were inspired by his travels along the Rhine Valley in the early 1650s.

Jacob Levecq (1634–75) An Unknown Man, Aged 19, 1654 NT1246466

The artist’s signature, now no longer visible, was once inscribed on this canvas along with the date 1654 and the number 19. The portrait is painted in the style of Rembrandt van Rijn, in whose studio Levecq had been trained. The position of the visible hand, indicative of modesty and sincerity in Dutch portraiture, also makes the figure point back at himself, which may indicate that this is a self-portrait. The number 19 may well document the artist’s age when he painted his likeness. The Pictures 17

Johannes Lingelbach (1622–74) Horsemen and Peasants before a Cottage, 1642–74 NT1246537

Lingelbach, an artist of German extraction who had worked in Rome, spent most of his career in the Dutch Republic, popularising Italianate landscapes that are often populated, as in this example, by picturesque figures. With its hilly terrain and rag-tag characters, this picture evokes a world away from the urban bourgeois milieu of the artist’s Netherlandish patrons. Travel, aptly enough, is the theme: outside a wayside cottage, horsemen overseeing the feeding of their mounts are flanked on the left by a resting peasant family, and on the right by an old man being led along by a boy.

Adriaen van Ostade (1610–85) Peasants before a Fire in an Inn, 1668 NT1246490

At the heart of this scene of everyday life in a 17th-century Dutch tavern lies a wry meditation on human generosity. Standing before the hearth, the man in black looks longingly at the glass of beer being held up before him; to show he has no money purse about his person to buy a drink of his own, he holds out his empty hat and hoists up his jacket. That he is appealing to the charity of the men seated around him is confirmed by the parallel scene to the right, in which a dog begs for a morsel of food from a child. The rollicking laughter of the men and the child’s smile are carefully rendered: do these expressions depict cruel delight in the frustrated desires of others, or a good-natured moment before mercy wins out? 18 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–81) Self-Portrait at the Age of 32, 1667 NT1246501

This small self-portrait makes a big statement. Swathed in expensive textiles, this leading figure of the Leiden school of fine-painters fijnschilders( ) presents himself at the height of his powers. Caught in the moment of creation with a loaded palette, brushes in hand and a blank panel (or canvas) before him, van Mieris rests his elbow on a stone balustrade on which sit a large book and a drawing of a nude, declaring the classical and intellectual grounding of his art. For all its grand rhetoric, the portrait is nonetheless tiny in format and minute in execution, demonstrating the exquisite skill and acute powers of observation that spread this artist’s fame throughout the princely courts of Europe.

Style of Carel Fabritius (1622–54) Head of a Boy ?1650s NT1246479

This painting of a boy in simple dress presents a mystery. Formerly thought to be an extremely rare work by the Dutch artist Carel Fabritius, this attribution has since been discounted for lack of finesse in the brushwork. The compelling sensitivity of the characterisation is nonetheless indicative of a skilled hand and an intimate knowledge of his style. The question of authorship remains open.

Pieter de Hooch (1629–84) The Golf Players, c.1660 NT1246485

This is a playful example of a Dutch ‘view- through’ (or doorkijkje) picture for which this artist is particularly noted. A small child bursts through a doorway having interrupted a game of golf, leaving the older boy standing in the backyard. The picture celebrates this moment of exuberant recreation in a world of ordered domesticity – note the scrupulously clean surfaces and neat costumes. It is also a clever demonstration of perspective and light effects, presenting a receding sequence of interior and exterior spaces infused with a cool winter light. De Hooch included glazed tiles behind the door on the left-hand side of the scene, each decorated with rudimentary depictions of pairs of playing children as if to emphasise the sophistication and realism of his own rendering of this subject. The Pictures 19

Jan van Goyen (1596–1656) The Ramparts of Dordrecht, c.1644–56 NT1245842

A prolific landscape artist, van Goyen is equally notable for his drawings as well as his paintings. This work represents the ramparts defending the port town Dordrecht, one of the hubs of trade and commerce that drove the massive economic expansion of the Dutch Republic in the 17th century. Van Goyen probably created finished drawings such as this with the intention of selling them to collectors.

Jan van Goyen (1596–1656) The Beach at Scheveningen, 1648 NT1246497

Van Goyen painted numerous beach scenes based on drawings he made in 1646 at Scheveningen on the coast of the Dutch Republic. This scene is livelier and more populated than the usual sleepy comings and goings of fishermen found in this body of work and seems to depict the arrival or departure of passengers at this point of embarkment. 20 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Jacob Van Ruisdael (1628–82) Beachscape with Dunes, 1670s NT1246494

This coastal view exemplifies Jacob van Ruisdael’s exceptional ability to create a striking composition out of an ostensibly simple and uneventful subject. Figures saunter around the tufty sand dunes and rutted roads of the 17th-century Dutch coastline; the only action performed with any real sense of purpose is the gentleman being carried out to a waiting rowboat on the shoulders of two men. The mundanity of these goings-on is countered by the grandeur of the cloudy sky that dominates the picture. The low horizon line and the sweep of billowing clouds create an impression of space and movement on a vast scale.

Jan van Goyen (1596–1656) An Estuary, 1655 NT1246496

This picture exemplifies the ‘tonal school’ of painting that developed in the second quarter of the 17th century as a distinctively Dutch form of landscape composition. Characterised by an extremely thin application of paint and a near-absence of colour or striking incidents, its sheer simplicity is presented as a demonstration of great skill. The Pictures 21

Salomon van Ruysdael (1600/3–70) A River Estuary, 1647 NT1246493

See the entry for the same artist’s River Scene with a Ferryboat (NT1246472 on page 25).

David Teniers the Younger (1610–90) The Card Players, c.1645 NT1246500

The tavern scenes of this Flemish artist frequently centre on figures gambling on games of chance. The overall mood in this example is one of calm – note the sleeping dog – although the pointed look of the figure gazing out at the viewer creates a moment of tension. The broken pipe at his feet alludes to the vanity of his activity while his black suit, wide collar, and refined features mark him out as a cut-above the rest of the party. Perhaps his furtive gaze is that of one who should know better, caught out in the indulgence of a low and foolish passion. 22 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

David Teniers the Younger (1610–90) The Tric-Trac Players, c.1640 NT1246499.2

Like the Card Players, hanging adjacent, this is one of Teniers’s gambling scenes. It captures a moment before the roll of the dice in a game of tric-trac, which is played on a board similar to that used for backgammon. Paintings such as this emerged from a tradition that explicitly moralised the blind and vicious character of gamblers, yet the atmosphere here is generally relaxed and good-humoured. If the party has a buffoon it is the standing character in blue who displays greater animation than the other figures and an absurd feather in his hat.

Quiringh Gerritsz van Brekelenkam (after 1622–after c.1669) A Young Woman with an Old Man Sleeping by a Fireside, c.1655–65 NT1246554

Something is amiss in this prosperous Dutch household. An old man is slumped by a fireside while a young woman raises an empty glass to indicate that it is inebriation rather than warmth or advanced years that has caused him to doze off. Folly belongs to age rather than youth in this scene, which often presages moral malaise in pictures like this, although the smile of the woman as she meets our gaze suggests we should perhaps not take this lapse too seriously. The Pictures 23

David Teniers the Younger (1610–90) The Alchemist, 1640s NT1246499.1

By the time Teniers painted this picture in the middle of the 17th century, the attempts of alchemists to transform base matter into gold had been thoroughly debunked. Here an old man earnestly heats and stirs a mixture in a crucible, oblivious to the familiar symbols of vanity all around him: the burnt-out candle on the lintel above the hearth, the animal skull on the wall, and the hour-glass directly beneath it. Only the bored dog lying next to a broken vessel, and perhaps the alchemist’s smirking assistant, appear aware of the futility of his endeavours.

Picture Corridor (East)

Cornelis de Man (1621–1706) The Game of Cards, c.1655–65 NT1246498

Much is going on beneath the surface of this picture of a man and woman playing cards, which was probably painted in Delft where de Man worked for most of his career. The woman cranes around to give the viewer a meaningful look, exposing her ankle from beneath her skirts. This is an erotically-charged gesture that gives away what is really at stake in the game, as well as her likely profession. Card-playing was associated with deceit and indecency in 17th-century Dutch art; indeed, there was an expression to the effect that ‘whores hold all the cards’. The picture has suffered damage over the years, and was probably trimmed down along the right-hand edge. Only the relatively well-preserved figure of the woman and table-cloth gives an impression of the picture’s original appearance and its atmospheric play of light. 24 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Gerard ter Borch (1617–81) Unknown Man, c.1675 NT1246492

This picture dates to the latter part of ter Borch’s career when he was mainly engaged in portrait painting. The placement of the sitter’s right hand on his chest is indicative of sincerity, and typifies the spirit of modest individuality and sobriety, which infused this painter’s likenesses in this period. These qualities, which were increasingly associated with an older generation of artists and patrons in the later decades of the 17th century, remained highly valued amongst the bourgeoisie of the eastern provinces from where the majority of this artist’s commissions derived, giving a clue to the unidentified sitter’s origin.

Attributed to Corneille de lyon (active 1533–74) Unknown Man Wearing Fur, c.1555–65 NT1246457

This picture has been paired with the nearby portrait of Catherine de Medici since at least the early 18th century, which led to the misidentification of the sitter as her husband, King Henry II of France, who died at the age of 40. The relatively poor condition of the surface makes it difficult to attribute this picture to Corneille de Lyon definitively.

Corneille de Lyon (active 1533–74) Catherine de’ Medici (1519–89), c.1536 NT1246458

Daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, wife of King Henri II of France, and Regent after his death in 1559. Catherine is shown wearing a jewel around her neck in the shape of the letter ‘H’ as an homage to her husband. The picture dates to about 1536; the year in which the royal court was in Lyon and Catherine became Dauphine (the wife of the heir to the French throne) following the death of her brother-in-law. The Pictures 25

Salomon van Ruysdael (1600/03–70) River Scene with a Ferryboat, 1647 NT1246472

Salomon van Ruysdael enjoyed great success with pictures of the quiet life of the inland watercourses of the 17th-century Dutch Republic. This picture and the other river landscape by the same artist at Polesden Lacey (see NT1246493 on page 21) were painted in the same year but reveal the changes to his approach at this time. Whereas the other landscape presents a strictly limited colour range and a spare composition of narrow horizontal bands, this picture introduces a more vibrant palette and complex organisation of space, which draws the eye to the distance.

Studio of Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633–1707) Shipping in a Calm, c.1666 NT1246474

This picture makes a satisfying composition out of the unpromising material of fishing boats at low tide among the mud banks of the northern coast of the 17th- century Dutch Republic. Van de Velde’s many variations on this subject were much in demand in the 1660s although the quality of this work, despite being signed, suggests that it was painted mostly, or entirely, by his assistants. 26 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Billiard Room

Henry Hine (1811–95) Bible Bottom, Malling Hills, 1891 NT1246592

This highly finished watercolour was painted by Hine in the final stage of his career, when his favourite subject was the countryside of his native Sussex. It did not enter the collection through Mrs Greville but through Christopher Norris, who was a tenant of Polesden Lacey after it passed into the National Trust.

Samuel Bough (1822–78) The Port of London, 1863 NT1246533

A multitude of sailboats, barges and steamers crowd the River Thames as the sun descends over the Port of London. Many landmarks are visible through the famous London fog including the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral. This energetic painting is the 19th-century British counterpart to the 17th-century Dutch marine pictures in the collection; two great maritime empires at the height of their power. A major point of departure from that tradition is the cropping of the boats at the edges of the composition, signalling the influence of photography. The Pictures 27

Anton Mauve (1838–88) A Scanty Meal, 1858–88 NT1246536

A flock of sheep guided by a shepherd and his dog pick at vegetation hidden beneath the snow on a wayside verge. As a murder of crows takes flight, the dog pricks up its ears and stands alert as if to indicate some unseen disturbance or presence on the road ahead. Anton Mauve, who taught Vincent van Gogh, worked mainly in The Hague. This is a good illustration of how the Dutch traditions of winter scenes and pastoral subjects (both represented in the Picture Corridor) developed under the influence of French 19th- century Realist painting, resulting in a far more detailed interest in the lives and experiences of country labourers.

Walter Ouless (1848–1933) The Rt Hon. William McEwan (1827–1913), 1901 NT1246534

Mrs Greville hung this venerable image of her father, magnificently bearded and swathed in fur, in the dining-room of her Mayfair townhouse. 28 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Sir William McTaggart (1835–1910) The Pleasure of Hope, 1860; Seascape, 1877 NT1246557; NT1246558

These two pictures illustrate McTaggart’s development away from sentimental anecdotes towards broader evocations of weather and landscape as his career progressed. Both works also attest to his abiding interest in the people and topography of the West coast of Scotland where he was raised, the son of a crofter.

Tea Room

French or Netherlandish School Eight Pastoral Landscapes, c.1770s NT1246639.1–7; NT1246640

These large paintings of rustic folk going quietly about their business are key to the congenial atmosphere that the designers Mewés and Davis provided for Mrs Greville in this room. Large expanses of sky and cloud introduce light and air, while trees twisting up the vertical compositions bring a sense of elegant, sinuous movement. Derived from pastoral rococo models, they were probably originally installed in a similar room in France, or more likely somewhere in the Low Countries, where such painted decorations were particularly popular in the 18th century. The Pictures 29

Saloon

Follower of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636–99) Two Pictures of Flowers in China Vases, late 17th century NT1246468; NT1246469

These pictures, which are painted in the grandly decorative manner of flower painting developed by Monnoyer, used to hang in the breakfast-room of Mrs Greville’s Mayfair townhouse.

Hermann Schmiechen (1855–1925) Margaret Anderson, the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, DBE, 1889–91 NT1246470

This German artist was settled in London as a fashionable portrait painter when he created this vision of Mrs Greville as a sweetly modest, and probably still unmarried, woman. In her lifetime, the picture hung in the morning-room of her Mayfair townhouse.

Attributed to Paolo de Matteis (1662–1728) Four Roundels of the Life of King David; Putti Holding Garlands, c.1700 NT1247909; NT1247910

The four circular paintings set into each corner of the ceiling, as well as the rectangular canvases of putti holding garlands of flowers, came to Polesden Lacey along with the gilded panelling from an unidentified Italian palazzo. Each depicts a different episode in the life of King David from the Old Testament Book of Samuel. In the south-east corner (by the window), David refuses Saul’s offer of armour and a sword before facing Goliath. In the north-west corner (by the left-hand door) Saul, jealous of David’s victory, hurls a spear at him. In the north-east corner (by the right-hand door) David is given ‘hallowed bread’ by the priest, Ahimelech. In the south-west corner (by the window), Abigail lays gifts before David to make amends for her husband’s insults. The fire at Polesden Lacey in 1960 affected the appearance of some of these paintings, making attribution to a particular hand difficult, although they resemble the works of the Italian Paolo de Matteis. 30 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Library

George Manson (1850–76) Self-Portrait, 1869; Child with a Basket of Eggs, 1873; Child Eating Porridge, 1874 NT1246541; NT1246542; NT1246559

Manson modestly turns away from us in this self-portrait, but he still tells us a great deal about himself. Aged about nineteen and just emerging as a professional artist in Scotland, his smooth skin gives away his youth while his intense gaze alludes to the powers of observation that have allowed him so precisely to trace the contours of his profile, and the minute gradations of tone through his hair. The air of pensive melancholy in this picture carries through into the depictions of cottage children, which hang on each side of the fireplace. His works were greatly admired for this quality in the period after his early death from consumption.

Attributed to Cesar van Everdingen (c.1606–78) or Aelbert Cuyp (1620–91) Portrait of a One-Year-Old Boy with a Sheep, 1639 NT1246484

A partially-legible inscription on this Dutch portrait identifies the date of the picture and the age of the child, but not the sitter. All children of this age wore skirts although this figure is identified as a boy by the gold medal attached to his waist. The placid sheep and wild flowers, which grow almost as tall as the boy himself, allude to the Arcadian realm of simplicity and innocence with which wealthy patrons were often keen to associate their offspring. The worn paint surface makes identifying the artist difficult, although it has been attributed to Cesar van Everdingen and the young Aelbert Cuyp, who both produced comparable works. The Pictures 31

Study Lobby

George Chalmers (1836–78) The Young Cavalier, 1860 NT1246538

Chalmers was just embarking on his career as a portraitist in Edinburgh when he painted this picture of a young boy. With its bravura brushwork and historical dress, it was probably not intended as an actual portrait but as a charming evocation of just the kind of 17th-century pictures that line the Picture Corridor at Polesden Lacey.

Balcony

Charles-August-Emile Durand, known as Carolus-Durand (1837–1917) Margaret Anderson, the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, DBE (1863–1942), 1891 NT1246442

Before a gleaming cloth of gold, a dynamic woman smiles out at us in a dramatic hat and sweeping, silk-lined mantle. This is Margaret, illegitimate and only child of the brewing magnate, William McEwan, depicted in the year of her marriage to the Hon. Ronald Greville. The great sense of confidence caught by Carolus- Duran, painter of Parisian society ladies and demi- mondaines, proved entirely apt. Her union with one of the closest friends of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, added social standing to her riches, resulting in a long career as one of the great hostesses of the age, of which Polesden Lacey is the enduring legacy.

Attributed to Giovanni Battista Viola (1576–1622) Landscape with a Horseman and Warriors, 1600–22

This picture is attributed to Viola, the first Italian painter known to work exclusively as a landscape specialist, although the damage it suffered in the 1960 fire at Polesden Lacey makes it difficult to identify an author definitively. The composition leads the eye from the heroic figures in the foreground, towards the waiting boat and thence out to sea via a winding river, so as to evoke the great journeys recounted in the epic poems of Virgil and Tasso. The painting was hung in this position in Mrs Greville’s day. 32 The Pictures at Polesden Lacey

Attributed to Hendrick van der Vliet (1611–75) Portraits of an Unknown Woman and a Fifty-Six-Year-Old Man, 1633 NT1166736.1; NT1166736.2

The identities of these sitters are not known although an inscription on the man’s portrait gives his age as fifty-six and dates the picture to 1633. The paintings were evidently commissioned as a pair, almost certainly by a married couple of some consequence – note the landscape views indicative of a country estate. The woman’s wifeliness and piety are particularly emphasised by the prominent position of a wedding band on her ring finger and by the bible in her other hand. They resemble the portraiture of the Delft artist van der Vliet.

Dutch or Flemish School Portrait of an Unknown Man, 1620s NT1246560

The sobriety of this sitter’s monochrome costume belies the great expense of a black silk doublet and a carefully pressed white linen ruff in the 17th-century Low Countries. His frank gaze is combined with a courtly hand-on-hip pose. The semi- legible inscription dates the picture to the 1620s.

Portico Bedroom

Johan Zoffany (1733–1810) Eva Marie Veigel, Mrs Garrick (1724–1822), 1762/3 NT1246673

Austrian ballet dancer and wife of the actor David Garrick. The sitter presents herself in a shimmering masquerade costume having removed her mask to return our gaze with a knowing smile. The delicate vitality of this gesture gives away her profession as a dancer; as ‘Violette’ she had gathered an ardent following in both Vienna and London. Yet Eva Marie’s dancing days were over by the time this portrait was painted, having ended her career upon her marriage back in 1749. Acknowledgements

The National Trust gratefully acknowledges a generous bequest from the late Mr and Mrs Kenneth Levy that has supported the cost of preparing this book.

This guide is based on earlier National Trust publications on the collection at Polesden Lacey by St John Gore, Christopher Rowell and Alastair Laing. The author would like to thank Amanda Bradley, Lucy Davis, Jonathan Marsh, Pieter van der Merwe, Scott Nethersole, Martin Postle, Katarina Robinson, David Taylor and the Polesden Lacey volunteers and house team for their generous help and advice.

The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

© National Trust Books 2017 Registered Charity no: 205846

Illustrations: National Trust Images pp.5, 17, 19, 27, 28, 30 and 31; National Trust Images/John Bethell p.12; National Trust Images/Prudence Cuming p.22; National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel, p.2; National Trust Images/Andrew Fetherston pp.4, 10 and 15; National Trust Images/Jonathan Gibson p.27; National Trust Images/ John Hammond front cover, pp.14, 18, 21, 31, 32 and back cover; National Trust Images/Matthew Hollow p.26; National Trust Images/National Gallery, London p.13; National Trust Images/Derrick E. Witty pp.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30.

Text written by Dr John Chu

Edited by Sarah Wade

Designed by Level Partnership, Cranbrook, Kent

Cover: The Introduction, by Gerard ter Borch (1617–81), c.1662 Back cover: Margaret Anderson, the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, DBE (1863–1942), by Charles-August-Emile Durand (1837–1917), 1891

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