William Kent at Houghton Hall, William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain

Houghton Hall was built in the early years of the 18th century for Britain's most powerful politician Sir Robert Walpole the First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister Walpole was not an aristocrat from an ancient family so his peers considered him to be their social inferior in this portrait Walpole surrounds himself with the symbols of his hard-earned status and success his wealthy wife Catherine shorter his badges of office and the new house Houghton Hall that was the embodiment of his social cultural and financial achievement for the design of Houghton interiors Walpole chose the newly fashionable court artist William Kent from 1725 Kent created a sequence of complete interiors that confirmed Walpole's arrival into Britain's highest social circles where competition was fierce to demonstrate taste wealth and power Kent's painted decoration moulded cornices and door frames furniture silverware lighting and striking monumental chimney pieces complemented Walpole's famous collection of paintings which Kent arranged on the walls guests began their visit by climbing the great staircase with its balustrade of solid mahogany used throughout Houghton this luxurious and newly fashionable material was imported from the British possessions in North America and the West Indies on the walls Kent painted trompe l'oeil trophies and mythological hunting scenes hunting took a central place in Walpole's famously lavish hospitality at Houghton he used their house as a base for his political operation and shored up alliances with extravagant entertainment the stone hall was the first of the state rooms in the sequence devised by Kent the 40-foot cube shaped room attributed to architect : Campbell was inspired by the original English example at the Queen's House in greenwich by Inigo Jones Kent turned this vast space into an Anglo Palladian showpiece designed to all visitors its stark white and gray a strong contrast to the stairwells restrained color palette of olive and gold this is where petitioners would have been obliged to wait on one of Kent's mahogany hall benches for Walpole to receive them symbols of status appear in the stone hall ceiling from the Walpole family coat of arms at the center to the families crest of the Saracens head surmounting wall poles newly awarded garter star at each of the corners wall poles bast presides over the room in the guise of an ancient Roman with close cropped hair and wearing toga he is presented as the leader of a country that has inherited the political and civic values of Rome the stone Hall embodies the concept of Britannia Romana and celebrates Walpole's cultural ancestry as a new Roman as well as his actual Norfolk forebears the austerity of the stone Hall serves to heighten the richness and opulence of the next room in the sequence the red saloon Kent created a British version of the Magnificent Italian Baroque Palace interiors that he had admired during a decade of study in Italy Kent used Greek and Roman mythology and the language of symbols to present Walpole as a man of culture he painted the red saloon ceiling with the Sun chariot of Apollo god of the Arts he used scallop shells of Venus goddess of beauty on the carved pier mirrors tables and seats to harmonize the elaborate setting the same patterned crimson silk and wool fabric covered the walls and the partly gilded suite of seating furniture the red saloon leads to a drawing room known as the carlo Marathi room after the important Italian baroque artist whose paintings were displayed here originally green silk velvet hung on walls providing a lush background for the gilded picture frames dots of gold paint glitter like mosaic on the ceiling where Kent painted Venus on her scallop shell Kent designed this peer mirror and the carved gilt table frame which supports a precious imported lapis lazuli slab precious marble and stone slabs were sought after by collectors and this was a particularly valuable example a rare drawing in Kent's hand survives for this table beyond the drawing room is the most opulent room of the house the green state bedroom reserved for the guest of honor a spectacular bed dominates the room its headboard in the shape of a scallop shell its luxurious hangings made of gold edged velvet more than 1,600 pounds were spent on the gold alone the equivalent of around one hundred and fifty thousand pounds today here can't use the most sumptuous of all wall coverings a custom-made tapestry depicting the loves of Venus a secondary state bedroom the embroidered bedchamber would have housed the wife of the guest of honor this corner room is now furnished as a bedroom but Kent designed it to be a gallery the ceiling painting gives a glimpse of Kent's intelligent sense of humor Minerva the goddess of wisdom bearing the Walpole arms on her shield is depicted crushing envy the final room in the parade of staterooms was the marble parlor room such as this dedicated solely to dining were a relatively recent innovation Kent explored ways of maintaining diners privacy while receiving service from the kitchens his solution was a double arch screen flanked by massive marble serving tables and a concealed corridor behind the chimney-piece the presiding deity in the marble parlor is Bacchus god of feasting wine and excess wall hangings could not be used here as they would have picked up the smell of food but Kent found other ways to add visual interest texture and contrast the room he used a variety of colored veined and variegated marbles and also employed the candlelight that reflected off gilded surfaces mirrors and wall poles collection of silver that was displayed on the tables to hold Walpole's library Kent designed a study with dark mahogany bookshelves from his study window Walpole had a view of his extensive park and his new stables likely designed by Kent to house the horses for the hunt Houghton Hall marked the first Commission for which Kent was responsible for an entire suite of rooms with each more magnificent than the last he succeeded in creating the most extraordinary sequence of state rooms of early Georgian Britain

Channel: bardgradcenter

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Keywords: william kent, georgian, britain, architecture, interior design, design, houghton hall, bard graduate center, palladian, sir robert walpole

Id: G11oTM0XXBQ

Length: 7min 26sec (446 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 07 2014