[110974] Kedleston Hall : South Front - Roundel

Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, 1758-65.

The National Trust.

By Matthew Brettingham (1699-1769), James Paine (1717-1789) & Robert Adam (1728-1792).

Interiors complete by the 1780s.

For Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale (1726-1804).

Grade l listed.

Detail of the South Front.

Roundel - Day - Apollo driving the Chariot of the Sun.

 

One of a pair of medallions carved by local stone masons installed on the South Front exterior of Kedleston Hall. The medallions are after Hadrianic tondi on the Arch of Constantine, Rome, depicting the sun god Apollo, as Sol, driving his four-horse chariot (a quadriga) which brings day).

 

Kedleston Hall is an extravagant temple to the arts. Commissioned in the 1750s by Nathaniel Curzon whose ancestors had resided at Kedleston since the 12th century. The house is framed by historic parkland and boasts opulent interiors intended to impress.

 

Designed for lavish entertaining, Kedleston Hall displays an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture and original furnishings, reflecting both the tastes of its creators and their fascination with the classical world of the Roman Empire.

 

Inherited by George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India between 1899 and 1905, the hall also houses the many objects he amassed during his travels in South Asia and the Middle East, and in his role leading British rule in India.

 

 

 

 

 

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