MontImageMedia - In Memoriam
'The Spanish Room' at Kingston Lacy the home of the Bankes family at Wimborne Minster, Dorset.
Kingston Lacy was built in 1663-5 for Sir Ralph Bankes by Sir Roger Pratt after the Bankes family’s main seat, Corfe Castle, was ruined during the Commonwealth. In 1835-40, the rising star of Victorian architecture, Sir Charles Barry - who also built the Houses of Parliament - encased the building in stone. The present house may prompt regret at the loss of one of the great Caroline country houses, but Barry’s Italianate palace has a power and grace all its own. The interiors were refitted to provide a suitably opulent setting for the outstanding collections of paintings and other works of art acquired by William John Bankes. The interiors are lavishly decorated and include the spectacular Spanish Room, with an early 17th-century Venetian ceiling and hangings of gilded leather; neo-Caroline ceiling plasterwork; oak and cedar panelling; and a coved and painted 18th-century saloon ceiling.
'The Spanish Room' at Kingston Lacy the home of the Bankes family at Wimborne Minster, Dorset.
Kingston Lacy was built in 1663-5 for Sir Ralph Bankes by Sir Roger Pratt after the Bankes family’s main seat, Corfe Castle, was ruined during the Commonwealth. In 1835-40, the rising star of Victorian architecture, Sir Charles Barry - who also built the Houses of Parliament - encased the building in stone. The present house may prompt regret at the loss of one of the great Caroline country houses, but Barry’s Italianate palace has a power and grace all its own. The interiors were refitted to provide a suitably opulent setting for the outstanding collections of paintings and other works of art acquired by William John Bankes. The interiors are lavishly decorated and include the spectacular Spanish Room, with an early 17th-century Venetian ceiling and hangings of gilded leather; neo-Caroline ceiling plasterwork; oak and cedar panelling; and a coved and painted 18th-century saloon ceiling.