Strawberry Hill Beauty Room Stained Glass 6 adj IMG_1910
This photo shows the glazing of the room next to the Little Parlour - the Beauty Room or Yellow Bedchamber. In the restoration the Trust has set it up as a palimpsest - displaying fragments of many decor schemes from the panelling of the original house to 1970s anaglypta (on the ceiling).
The room had an earth closet opening out of it and was never intended to be a grand room in the tour circuit. It must have been well used, however, because it was frequently redecorated even in Walpole's time. The yellow and black fireplace was designed by Richard Bentley - and had five trompe l''oeil pinacles.
In 1753 it was hung with yellow patterned paper and prints, framed in the manner pioneered by Lord Cardigan of printed borders. In his print room Walpole displayed prints of his family's paintings or which had some family connection. He also used the tecnique in other rooms. The room was later redecorated in grey spotted paper, hung with portraits of aristocratic Stuart beauties and renamed the Beauty Room. Over the fireplace was a Van Dyke painting of the children of Charles I (Prince Charles, James and Princess Mary with their favourite dog).
I haven't been able to find out much about the stained glass shown here - a large Flemish scene with golden stain, two armorials and a shield. The pair of monochrome ladies each sitting against a tree are allegorical depictions of the senses - sight and smell.
The lowest tier of panels all seem to be 17thC and depicts:
- a heavily restored central panel of a couple courting, flanked by portraits of a woman and a peasant with a glass, both dancing
- a scene of rural life with two women, dogs and a bowl; flanked by portraits of a rustic with a long pipe and a man playing a hurdy-gurdy.
Strawberry Hill Beauty Room Stained Glass 6 adj IMG_1910
This photo shows the glazing of the room next to the Little Parlour - the Beauty Room or Yellow Bedchamber. In the restoration the Trust has set it up as a palimpsest - displaying fragments of many decor schemes from the panelling of the original house to 1970s anaglypta (on the ceiling).
The room had an earth closet opening out of it and was never intended to be a grand room in the tour circuit. It must have been well used, however, because it was frequently redecorated even in Walpole's time. The yellow and black fireplace was designed by Richard Bentley - and had five trompe l''oeil pinacles.
In 1753 it was hung with yellow patterned paper and prints, framed in the manner pioneered by Lord Cardigan of printed borders. In his print room Walpole displayed prints of his family's paintings or which had some family connection. He also used the tecnique in other rooms. The room was later redecorated in grey spotted paper, hung with portraits of aristocratic Stuart beauties and renamed the Beauty Room. Over the fireplace was a Van Dyke painting of the children of Charles I (Prince Charles, James and Princess Mary with their favourite dog).
I haven't been able to find out much about the stained glass shown here - a large Flemish scene with golden stain, two armorials and a shield. The pair of monochrome ladies each sitting against a tree are allegorical depictions of the senses - sight and smell.
The lowest tier of panels all seem to be 17thC and depicts:
- a heavily restored central panel of a couple courting, flanked by portraits of a woman and a peasant with a glass, both dancing
- a scene of rural life with two women, dogs and a bowl; flanked by portraits of a rustic with a long pipe and a man playing a hurdy-gurdy.