Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
With our HH membership we are entitled to one visit per year to Harewood House in Leeds. We didn't want to miss out so off we went. Unlike some houses which are hidden in their grounds, Harewood stands foursquare at once. You enter the hall which is dominated by Epstein's statue of Adam. This statue travelled the world (it wasn't liked) until it ended up as part of Tussaud's in a warehouse in Blackpool of all places. From there it was acquired by the current Earl's father. The Hall was designed by Adam as a unified whole, including the ceiling, friezes and chimney pieces (as indeed throughout the house). This is what makes Harewood so so special. You pass next into the Old Library, the oldest of 3 libraries at the house. Here the chairs and library steps were designed by Chippendale (again someone whose furniture is so integral to the whole house). The bust is of Princess Mary, wife of the Sixth Earl.......and the Royal connection for the Lascelles family. The one thing we noticed straight away was that every little detail is designed by Carr the architect, Adam and Chippendale to the n'th degree. This so-called China Room is the only room I didn't like and played no part in the overall design. Robert Adam called this the study and that is what it should be. As it is it displays some of the family's collections of objet d'art. Now this is more like it, the East Bedroom.......with its magnificent bed (pics do not do it justice), and the Chinese wallpaper which was found in an outbuilding where it had lain for 200 years. The conservators described it as "one of the finest examples anywhere in the world'. The detail is simply facinating. A traditional rural landscape showing all aspects of working life from making tea to crafting porelain. The views from the windows by the way were magnificent. In every room there were aspects of an exhibition called 'Radical Futures'. I have no idea what it was about and tried my best to ignore the distraction (in one room with continuous commentary this was impossible). Why take over the whole house? Ridiculous. This piece however I did like ...it is by a contemporary glass-blower and is inspired by the 200 year-old bottles of rum found in Harewood's cellars a decade earlier, representing with its braided rope enslaved individuals who produced the rum on Lascelles slave plantations. As something to admire and make us ask questions, fine. But as for our 'guilt' for what happened in times past stupid. Presumably that it was the exhibition is about. It cuts no ice with me the historian. I have not seen anything anywhere which quite takes the breath away as much as this magnificent bed in the State Bedroom. Done away with by the Victorian Barry who made some significant alterations in his time this Chippendale masterpiece lay in storage forgotten until rediscovered in the 70's. But just look at how it relates to both ceiling and carpet, a master stoke by Adam and Chippendale. Barry was a chump in this room. The next room was the Spanish Library so-called because of Spanish leather wallpaper, followed by The Library below. The Cinnamon Drawing Room contains some fine paintings including the striking portrait of Lady Worsley (in red) thought to be one of Reynold's finest. Often when entering a long gallery you are struck by its length and its portraits. Here in The Gallery you are struck by the wonderful co-ordinated design of the whole room. '......such a show of magnificence and art as the eye hath seldom seen and words cannot describe' an early Nineteenth Century guidebook avers. Quite right. The odd modern insertions to the Dining Room table loom large. Why? Perhaps something to do with the exhibition? The ceiling and frieze were absolutely butchered by Barry in a very coarse and heavy-handed way. I never want to see them again. Please restore the Adam originals (the plans are in the Sir John Soane Museum). The Music Room is another Adam delight. The carpet is an original Adam design echoing his ceiling. Below Stairs is impressive in its own way. John Carr the York architect took a lot of trouble in making sure they worked and were designed well. They are certainly light and airy and well looked after. Normally after a tour of a house you are glad to get some fresh air. Here it was a wrench to leave the house. The formal Barry Terrace is memorable, although what Capability Brown would have said of this interference in his plans I would not like to say. The Bird Garden proved very interesting and well thought out...... I must lastly mention an exhibition of work by local sixth-formers in The Courtyard. We seemed to be the only ones viewing it. Work by the younger generation never ceases to amaze me. Far better to make more of this than 'Radical Futures'.
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August 2023
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