Whilst we were exploring the interior of Castle Howard, a gentleman started to play the piano in the Long Gallery, which was rather pleasant. I gather that is a very expensive make of piano: Bösendorfer.
Owing to the fire, many of the rooms are still quite bare with exposed timberwork and brick walls, which are gradually being renovated. Some are furnished, like the appropriately named Turquoise Drawing Room, which had fabric-covered walls and many portraits, though some, I think, were copies rather than originals.
This is the Crimson Dining Room (imaginative names!) with its ornate fireplaces and elaborate chandeliers.
The dome above the Great Hall collapsed in the catastrophic fire in 1940 and has been rebuilt. Originally it had been decorated by the Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini in 1709-12. High up in the dome itself, 'The Fall of Phaeton' is a reproduction of his original, painted by the Canadian artist Scott Medd in 1963.
The family Chapel dates to 1870 and is richly decorated in the pre-Raphaelite style with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones designs and lots of gilt, very opulent. (I prefer my chapels to be somewhere in between the austerity of Ampleforth (see last Monday's post) and this level of extravagance!)
I absolutely adore Morris/Burne-Jones stained glass though. The faces of the figures are always gorgeous.
It is hard to imagine that this is a home.
ReplyDeleteYour new flat looks really nice!
ReplyDeleteSo glad the dome has a copy of the original painting. And refurbishing has been going on for quite a while, so apparently it's not that high on someone's list! I like the stained glass too, but goodness, who could feel peaceful with all those busy designs in that chapel!
ReplyDelete