fireplace in Pompeian Room, Ickworth House
Ickworth has belonged to the Hervey family since the 15th century but the Italianate Georgian building seen today dates to the end of the 18th century when Frederick Augustus Hervey, the 4th Earl of Bristol decided to build a home fit to display his enormous art collection.
Based on the vision of Italian architect Mario Asprucci, he commissioned brothers Francis and Joseph Sandys to create a neoclassical showpiece: the Rotunda. Building began in 1795 but was halted on the 4th Earl’s death in 1803. It stood unfinished for decades, only being completed in 1842 by the 5th Earl (who became the 1st Marquess). The East wing was built in the 1820s while the West wing was added in the 1840s.
The so-called Pompeian room seen here was completed in 1879 when the 3rd Marquess employed Penrose and Crace to decorate it in the style of the Roman wall paintings that had been discovered during the 1777 excavation of the Villa Negroni on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. This villa had belonged to Emperor Antoninus Pius. (The room decoration is therefore not based on Pompeii.)
The painting above the fireplace shows Venus shaking a tree from which Cupids are falling, and is based on engravings made on site at Villa Negroni by Raphael Mengs.
fireplace in Pompeian Room, Ickworth House
Ickworth has belonged to the Hervey family since the 15th century but the Italianate Georgian building seen today dates to the end of the 18th century when Frederick Augustus Hervey, the 4th Earl of Bristol decided to build a home fit to display his enormous art collection.
Based on the vision of Italian architect Mario Asprucci, he commissioned brothers Francis and Joseph Sandys to create a neoclassical showpiece: the Rotunda. Building began in 1795 but was halted on the 4th Earl’s death in 1803. It stood unfinished for decades, only being completed in 1842 by the 5th Earl (who became the 1st Marquess). The East wing was built in the 1820s while the West wing was added in the 1840s.
The so-called Pompeian room seen here was completed in 1879 when the 3rd Marquess employed Penrose and Crace to decorate it in the style of the Roman wall paintings that had been discovered during the 1777 excavation of the Villa Negroni on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. This villa had belonged to Emperor Antoninus Pius. (The room decoration is therefore not based on Pompeii.)
The painting above the fireplace shows Venus shaking a tree from which Cupids are falling, and is based on engravings made on site at Villa Negroni by Raphael Mengs.