London: Kenwood House
Kenwood House, Highgate, London
Kenwood House, on Hampstead Heath in north London, is one of England's finest so-called "country houses".
It is now no longer in private ownership and is managed by English Heritage after the house and its important Iveagh Bequest of classical art was left to the nation in 1929.
The collection contains paintings by Frans Hals, Joshua Reynolds, Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck, J. M. W. Turner and Vermeer as well as other Old Masters which were donated by Edward Guinness, the 1st Earl Iveagh, in the 1920s.
Edward Guinness was once the owner of and made his fortune from Guinness Breweries before it became a public company in 1886. He was the richest man in Ireland at the time.
The house has been restored to look and feel as it once did in the 18th century when the Scottish architect Robert Adam (1728-1792) worked on the buildings and decorated the interiors with consummate skill and finesse.
History
John Bill, the king's printer of King James I, bought the estate and built the first brick house here in the early 17th century.
By 1753 the house had been rebuilt and resold several times until it was acquired by William Murray, Lord Chief Justice and 1st Earl of Mansfield.
It was Mansfield who commissioned Robert Adam to extend and renovate the house and to decorate the interior.
The house remained within the Mansfield family and further buildings, such as the dairy were added and the gardens remodelled. However, they preferred another of their residences, Scone Palace in Scotland, to actually live.
By the early 20th century the house was let out to tenants including Grand Duke Michael Michaelovitch, the grandson of Tsar Nicholas I.
The house was then bought by Edward Guinness, the 1st Earl Iveagh, and was used to display part of his painting collection of Old Masters, landscapes and English portraiture.
After the Earl's death in 1927 the trustees of the art collection established Kenwood as a museum to present "a fine example of the artistic home of a gentlemen of the 18th century," according to Earl Iveagh's bequest. The Iveagh Bequest Act of 1929 passed this into law.
The musical concerts (both classical and later popular music) held by the lake facing the house on Saturday evenings during the summer from 1951 were ended in 2006. They resumed at a new location in 2008, the Pasture Ground within Kenwood Estate, and are now limited to around 8 a season after complaints from the wealthy residents of the area.
House
The house we see today is mainly the work of Robert Adam and several architects who followed him commissioned by the earls of Mansfield.
The grand portico was added by Adam to hide the original brick structure. Adam is also responsible for the south front and the exquisite library.
Adam redesigned the Entrance Hall and the magnificent Great Stairs and added the Antechamber. The rooms are decorated with plasterwork and wood carvings.
The Italianesque, Neoclassical library is Adam's pièce de résistance at Kenwood. It represents the climax of the guest route through the house. Some of the original designs for the room can be seen at Sir John Soane's Museum.
The library is tastefully decorated and was the largest room at Kenwood. The ceiling and its 19 oil paintings are the work of Antonio Zucchi, with the central image depicting Hercules and the other paintings having mainly classical themes. Zucchi worked (often along with Adam) on a number of stately home projects in England including Lupton House, Newby Hall, Nostell Priory, Osterley Park and Saltram House.
Adam himself designed some of the furniture and the sofas.
The book collection contained volumes by Alexander Pope, a friend of the Earl. The room was used for entertaining, dining and musical performances.
The two wings in white Suffolk brick are later additions by George Saunders, who was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Mansfield, ambassador to Vienna and Paris during his diplomatic career. A sand and paint finish is scored into rectangles to give the impression of stone. The dairy is the work of Saunders and was provided for the wife of the 2nd Earl Mansfield. Marie Antoinette's dairy at Versailles is probably the inspiration.
When the house was finished it became a fixture in the social life of the upper classes and was visited by George III and Queen Charlotte on several occasions.
Art
The Iveagh Bequest is a major collection of mainly Old Masters and classical British art on display at Kenwood.
Some highlights include the portrait of Pieter van den Broecke by Frans Hals and Rembrandt's Self Portrait with Two Circles (1665).
The self-portrait of Rembrandt is from later in the artist's life when he had lost most of his earlier fortune after living beyond his (not inconsiderable) means for most of his life.
The portrait of cousins Dido Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray is a rare 18th century depiction of a mixed-race woman with her white relation.
Dido Belle was the illegitimate daughter of naval captain Sir John Lindsay, the nephew of the 1st Earl of Mansfield and a black (later-freed) slave in Jamaica.
Indeed as Lord Chief Justice the 1st Earl Mansfield is associated with the beginnings of the abolition of slavery. In a judgement that prevented a slave being returned to Jamaica to be resold he stated: "Slavery is so odious that it must be construed strictly."
Dido was brought up at Kenwood was educated and supervised the dairy. She would later marry, give birth to three daughters and live in Pimlico.
The Grounds
The estate grounds were designed by the famous 18th century landscape gardener Humphry Repton (1752-1818) and stand in contrast with surrounding woodland and Hampstead Heath to the south.
More recently the prolific Arabella Lennox-Boyd has also contributed a garden for the house.
The grounds contain sculptures by both Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth as well as a piece by the French artist Eugène Dodeigne.
Further Information & Access - how to get to Kenwood House
Hampstead Lane
Highgate
London NW3 7JR
Tel: 0370 333 1181
www: english-heritage.org.uk
The nearest tube stations are Archway and Golders Green both on the Northern Line. It's a fair walk from either station (30 minutes), so you can take bus 210.
Gospel Oak or Hampstead Heath both on the North London Line are the nearest stations.
The bus H3 also goes close to Kenwood House. The Spaniards Inn is a good London pub nearby.
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