ABOUT SOME OF THE LECTURERS & THEIR LECTURES:
DAVID BEEVERS (University of Cambridge)
David Beevers is the Keeper of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton . He curated the exhibition Chinese Whispers : Chinoiserie in Britain 1650-1930 in 2008. The exhibition was a joint winner in the temporary exhibitions category of the Museums and Heritage Show Awards for Excellence 2009.He is the editor and co-author of the catalogue and has written numerous articles on architecture and the fine and decorative arts. He is a frequent lecturer in Britain and has lectured in the United States.
‘Mandarin only is the Man of Taste’: Chinoiserie in Britain 1650-1820
The French term ‘chinoiserie’ is given to an exotic style which includes motifs from Japan, India, and Persia as well as China. It went in and out of fashion, but was at its height in Britain in the late 17th and mid 18th centuries, with a magnificent late flourish in the early 19th century as exemplified by the chinoiserie interiors of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. The story of chinoiserie in Britain is a dazzling example of contact between two very different cultures. Imported silk, porcelain and lacquer inspired craftsmen and women to produce their own fantastical pieces using the fanciful imagery of a China of the imagination, known to Europeans as Cathay. In this lecture, Mr. Beevers will explore the English taste for chinoiserie on silver, furniture, tapestries and interiors, with examples taken from country houses—including the National Trust’s Claydon House—objects from the Royal Collection, and the dazzling Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
CURT DICAMILLO
Before accepting his current position as Executive Director of The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA, Mr. DiCamillo worked for 13 years for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has written and lectured extensively in the U.S, and abroad on the subject of English country houses. For the past nine years he has continued to develop an award winning database on the Web (www.dicamillocompanion.com) that is attempting to document every British and Irish country house ever built, standing or demolished. In recognition of his extraordinary work in preserving British architecture, he has been presented to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales. He is a member of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and an alumnus of The Attingham Summer School for the Study of Country Houses.
Speed, Style and The English Country House
Fast living surrounded by bright young things; that’s the image we have today of the Interwar Years, between 1918 and 1939, when fast cars, fast women, lots of alcohol, and an abundance of glamour and glitter was the order of the day for England’s upper classes. However, there is much more to the story. This lecture will go back hundreds of years, beginning in the 17th century, when the turf ruled the aristocratic taste for racing and horses were de rigueur for gentry and upper class. From Goodwood House in Sussex, home of the Glorious Goodwood festival (Thoroughbred horse racing), one of the highlights of the English social season, to Higham Park in Kent, one of the first centers of auto racing in the early 20th century, this lecture will cover horse, auto, and airplane racing at English country houses. From the Rothschilds to James Bond’s ancestry and car, from the finest stables in the world to the Flying Duchess—Mr. DiCamillo will investigate stories of sexual escapades, sabotage, and prison, all mixed carefully with soaring ambition and stunning houses filled with exquisite art.
TIM KNOX (Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London)
Tim Knox is the Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, an appointment he received in 2005. After studying at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, he was later Assistant Curator at the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Collection and in 1995 joined the National Trust as its Architectural Historian. He was appointed Head Curator of the National Trust in 2002, and was one of the major champions for the Trust’s acquisition of Tyntesfield, Bristol and the acquisition of The Workhouse in Nottinghamshire. He was Chairman of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust between 2000 and 2004, and is now its Patron, presiding over their plan to excavate and restore the Mausoleum of Thomas Hope. He is also a Trustee of the Pilgrim Trust. Since arriving at the Soane Museum he has restored the next door house, No 14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, as research and education facilities and is currently preparing to embark on the Museum’s $12 million project Opening up the Soane. He regularly writes and lectures on art, architecture and the history of collecting – recent publications being Sir John Soane’s Museum London (2009) and The British Ambassador’s Residence in Paris (November 2010).
The Strange Genius of Sir John Soane
Tim Knox tells the story of Sir John Soane (1753-1837), one of the greatest of all British architects. Born the son of a humble bricklayer, he rose - through hard work and professionalism, and an advantageous marriage – to eminence as architect of many of the most prestigious buildings of the Regency era, notably the Bank of England, a Neocloassical masterpiece which he called ‘the pride and boast of my life’. The Bank was demolished in 1925, but many of Soane’s lesser works; a brace of country houses and tombs, a picture gallery, and most of all his idiosyncratic house-museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, still survive and attest to his innovatory architectural ideas and mastery of space and light. A prickly, difficult man, but capable of deep friendships and great generosity, Soane’s extraordinary devotion to architecture and collecting is commemorated by his Museum, an amazing, glittering treasury which survives almost exactly as he left it. Tim Knox, Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London draws upon Soane’s own archive to paint a fresh picture of this strange, tormented genius of British architecture.
DR. ULRICH LEBEN
Leben is the Associate Curator of Furniture, The Rothschild Collection, at Waddesdon Manor and Special exhibition Curator at The Bard Graduate Center in New York City. He is a scholar of European decorative and fine arts. He joined the staff of the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon in 1996. He has participated in numerous conferences in Europe and America, and has lent his expertise to several international exhibitions, including Charles Honoré Lannuier: Cabinetmaker from Paris at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998) and Jean Jacques Bachelier 1724-1806 at the Musée Lambinet Versailles (2000). His many articles have appeared in French, German and English periodicals and references including The Dictionary of Art, Burlington Magazine and The Furniture History Society Journal. His book Object Design in the Age of Enlightenment was published in 2005 by the J. Paul Getty Trust. He recently worked on a refurbishment project of the historical rooms dating from the Consulate period at the German Ambassador’s residence in the historic building of the Hôtel Beauharnais in Paris.
A Family Affair: Treasures from The Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor
In 1874, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild purchased a 2,700 acre Buckinghamshire farming estate from the Duke of Marlborough. On this empty farmland he created a turreted French Renaissance style country house in which he could entertain his friends with lavish weekend house parties. Ultimately, his magnificent house, built between 1874 and 1883, became his life’s work and what he described as a “labour of love.” Rothschild filled its luxurious interiors with one of the greatest private collections of art and decorative arts in the world. One drawing room alone is filled with portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds, Savonnerie carpets (including a carpet ordered for the Louvre by Louis XVI), Sèvres porcelains, and furniture made for the French royal family. Rothschild’s younger sister, Alice de Rothschild, and his great-nephew, James de Rothschild, added to the collection and arranged their precious objects amidst interiors which featured the characteristic Rothschild combination of exquisite English portraiture and Continental Art objects. Since the property was bequeathed to The National Trust in 1957, the house has undergone numerous conservation and exhibit plans as new research explored both the family and their collection. This illustrated lecture will examine some of the rare and exquisite treasures held at Waddesdon and will present some of the recent discoveries and the new collections on view.
PAULINE C. METCALF
Pauline C. Metcalf is an independent historian, author, lecturer, and restoration consultant specializing in 19-20th century interiors. Ms. Metcalf is a frequent contributing author to various shelter magazines and books including Recreating the Past: Essays on the Colonial Revival (2004), Designers on Designers (2003), David Adler, Architect: The Elements of Style (2002). In 1988 she authored Ogden Codman and the Decoration of Houses, and curated the related exhibition at the National Academy ofDesign, Boston Athenaeum, and National Building Museum. Her most recent book, on which her lecture is based, is Syrie Maugham: Staging the Glamorous Interior published in fall 2010 by Acanthus Press.
Staging the Glamorous Interior: Syrie Maugham
Trendsetter, fashion maven, and wife of internationally-renowned novelist, Somerset Maugham—English designer Syrie Maugham created a world of ultra-chic style and elegance. Syrie biographer and scholar, Pauline Metcalf will take us on a transatlantic voyage, from the drawing rooms of Mayfair in the 1920 to the glamorous interiors of New York, Chicago, and Hollywood, all place where Syrie refines her famous “all-white room.” Metcalf will profile the decorator’s international clientele that included European aristocrats, American socialites, and Broadway stars who discovered in Syrie’s blend of traditional elegance and the Style Moderne—console tables floating on dolphin bases, fringed sleigh beds, leather dining chairs, geometrically patterned carpets, sheep skin rugs, shagreen tables and miles of mirrors—a perfect expression of their own joie de vivre and glamorous living. She will also look at how Maugham inspired later designers including Michael Taylor and Mark Hampton.
THE DUCHESS OF RUTLAND
The 11th Duchess of Rutland, née Emma Watkins, grew up at her family’s farm in Powys, Wales. After training as an opera singer, she started her own interior design business. At Belvoir, she masterminds the on-going redecoration of the Castle and oversees the 20 year program of house and garden restoration. The present castle is the fourth to have stood on the site since Norman times and was completed during the early 19th century. The Duchess appeared in the television documentary The Diary of a Duchess which chronicled the balancing act between family private life with her five children and husband, and the house which is open to the public. She also presented the ITV series, Castles, Keeps and Country Homes. An advocate of country life and farming, The Duchess is patron of many local charities and has also made Belvoir a venue for musical concerts and recitals. Her recent book Belvoir Castle: 1000 Years of Family, Art and Architecture was published in 2010 by Frances Lincoln and will be available at all lectures.
Belvoir Castle: 1000 Years of Family, Art and Architecture
Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire is the home of the Dukes of Rutland whose ancestors have lived there for almost a 1000 years. Since the land was given by William the Conqueror to one of the barons after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the castle has been built and rebuilt four times. It emerged in the early 1800s as one of the most magnificent and beautiful Regency houses in England. Starting with the 5th Duchess, Lady Elizabeth Howard who arrived at Belvoir and transformed it with the help of James Wyatt, all of the subsequent chatelaines have left their own personal mark. The Duchess of Rutland’s lecture will feature some of the 36 generations of her family who have lived at Belvoir and describe their failures and foibles as well as triumphs and fortunes. Her Grace will also give a visual personal tour of the house’s stunning interiors including the Private Apartments. Each space has its own stories and treasures: from Neoclassical decoration to splendid Regency furniture, from glorious paintings by Reynolds and Poussin to the first Duke of Wellington’s bedroom (a friend of the family) and the knife used to amputate the leg of the Duke of Rutland’s son in 1782. The Duchess will also talk about modern living at the castle with her family of five children as well as the castle’s ongoing preservation and restoration.
DR. LUCY WORSLEY (Oxford University, University of Sussex)
Dr. Lucy Worsley has a degree in history from Oxford and a doctorate in architectural history. Currently, she is Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and leads a team of 14 curators who cover the five Historic Royal Palaces. She was formerly an Inspector of Historic Buildings for English Heritage and has published guidebooks and articles on a range of English country houses. Previously she worked for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. She is the author of books on Hampton Court Palace and 17th-century country house life. Other books include Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion and Great Houses, published by Bloomsbury USA in 2007. Her latest book is Courtiers: The Secret History of Kensington Palace, 2010. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and is a frequent lecture in England and abroad. She regularly appears on the BBC presenting programs about historical figures, royal palaces, and courtly life in from the 16th through the 18th century.
A Royal Residence: Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace has a rich history beyond two of its most famous residents, the late Diana, Princess of Wales and Princess Margaret. The palace was built in the 1690s by Christopher Wren for the asthmatic King William III, who preferred the clean and rural air of Kensington to his damp riverside palace of Whitehall. However it was there that Mary II died of smallpox in 1694, at the age of only 32, and where William III died eight years later. But Wren's work was done too fast (indeed one workman was killed by a collapsing wall) and it had to be rebuilt when George I inherited the palace in 1714. Colen Campbell, the Deputy Surveyor, probably designed the three new state rooms but little known painter, William Kent, won the job of decorating the state apartments. He decorated the principal state room, the Cupola room, with a faux coffered ceiling as well as painted a group portrait of George I’s servants on the King’s Grand Staircase. Later, under George II and Queen Caroline, the palace became high society’s beating heart. Here Queen Caroline created her wonderful collections of natural and historical curiosities including a humming bird and a unicorn’s horn. But when George II died (on the watercloset) at Kensington in 1760, the court moved elsewhere. The abandoned palace became the home to the penniless Duke and Duchess of Kent in the early 19th century because they had nowhere else to go. Their daughter Victoria was born and raised there and it was at Kensington that she learned, aged 18, that she had become Queen. The history of Kensington Palace has been the focus of much new research for the representation of the palace now in progress. Due to re-open in 2012 with a new entrance and four new visitor routes, Kensington Palace is undergoing dramatic and exciting change.
ADVANCED REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR ALL LECTURES
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