Horace Walpole

Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Horace Walpole, detail, c. 1756–57. © Marquess of Hertford, Ragley Hall, Warwickshire. LONDON.- The magnificent collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture and curiosities created by Horace Walpole for his celebrated gothic villa at Strawberry Hill, which was later dispersed all over the world in the famous sale of the century of 1842, has been reassembled for the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces from Horace Walpole’s Collection... [Lire la suite]

Gold enamelled pendant of 'architectural' form with two gold enamelled figures in full relief depicting the Annunciation, probably Netherlandish (Antwerp), or German, 1550-1575. Bequeathed by Baron Ferdinand Anselm Rothschild, 1898; ex-collection Baron Anselm von Rothschild (1866 cat. no. 336), ex-collection Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford. WB.153. British Museum collection. © Trustees of the British Museum Pendant jewel; gold; centre: Annunciation, figures in full relief between two pilasters, at bases of... [Lire la suite]

The Walpole Cabinet, designed by Horace Walpole and William Kent, cabinet attributed to William Hallett, figures by J.F. Verskovis and medallions by Andrea Pozzo, 1743. Museum no. W.52-1925 LONDON.- A new V&A exhibition will examine Horace Walpole’s extraordinary collection and evoke the magnificent interiors of his house Strawberry Hill, Britain’s finest example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture. Following extensive restoration by the Strawberry Hill Trust the house is set to reopen in 2010. The exhibition will bring... [Lire la suite]

Flemish, The Marriage of a Saint (marriage of Henry VI), ca. 1475-1500, oil on wood panel, Toledo Museum of Art, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey. NEW HAVEN, CT.- “I am going to build a little Gothic castle at Strawberry Hill,” declared Horace Walpole in January 1750. An influential antiquarian and man of letters, Walpole (1717-1797) was one of the most important English collectors of the eighteenth century. In 1747 he leased a modest house along the Thames in Twickenham, outside London. Over the next fifty years Walpole expanded... [Lire la suite]