Collections: Historic Houses

Bridgeman represents the collections of some of the most important historic houses in the UK.

Impressive from the outside, historic houses often are just as impressive on the inside - home to some of the greatest art collections worldwide. Read on to see highlights from the historic houses we represent:

 

Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

Built between 1705-1733, Blenheim Palace was a gift from Queen Anne to John Churchill after he led armies to victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. If that name sounds familiar then you will not be suprised to hear that ex-Prime Minister of Britain Sir Winston Churchill was the the great great grandson of John, and was born in Blenheim Palace.

 

The collection from Blenheim is spectacular and one of the most valuable art collections in Europe - it includes paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Anthony van Dyck, and John Singer Sargent.

 

 

 

Burghley House, Lincolnshire

 

Burghley House was built in 1556 by Sir William Cecil, later Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I. After its completion few alterations were made to the exterior so it remains one of the finest examples of Elizabethan design in the country.

 

 

The house is festooned in wonderful works of art, including works by the wood carvers Grindling Gibbons and Jonathan Maine, the plasterer Edward Martin and the painters Louis Laguerre and Antonio Verrio. The panelled Billiard Room contains family portraits. The Marquetry Room has a large display of inlaid furniture dating from the late 17th century as well as a collection of 16th century Flemish pictures including a work by Pieter Brueghel. There is a superb collection of Japanese late 17th century porcelain. The Third and Fourth George Rooms house some fine larger pictures by Giordano and Guercino.

 

 

Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

 

 

Chatsworth, known as ‘The Palace of the Peak’, is the Derbyshire home of the Cavendish family, the Dukes of Devonshire, and has often been selected as Britain’s favourite country house.

 

 

Chatsworth boasts one of the greatest private art collections in the world which contains treasures acquired by the family from the 16th century to the present day. The Devonshire Collection includes views of the house, garden and park throughout the ages as well as portraits of the Cavendish family, imposingly depicted by the grandest artists of the day including Sir Anthony van Dyck, Pompeo Batoni and John Singer Sargent. The images within the collection are key to showing aristocratic tastes of the last few centuries and include pastoral English scenes by Samuel Palmer, exotic lands visited on the Grand Tour and costume designs by Inigo Jones.

 

 

Goodwood House, West Sussex

 

 

Goodwood is the seat of the Dukes of Richmond, Lennox, Gordon and Aubigny and home of the Glorious Goodwood car racing festival.

 

 

 

The art collection is more than equal to the stately interiors of this grand country house and includes many fine portraits of previous inhabitants, as well as a particularly remarkable collection of paintings of racehorses, a subject that has become synonymous with the Goodwood name.

 

 

Holkham Hall, Norfolk

 

 

Holkham is one of the great neo-Palladian houses of England and hosts the art collection of the Earls of Leicester.

 

 

Thomas Coke, the First Earl of Leicester, was a lavish and discriminating collector who spent six years on a Grand Tour of Europe in the early eighteenth century. Of the hundreds of items brought back to Holkham, perhaps the most celebrated is Sangallo’s copy of Michelangelo’s ‘Battle of Cascina’, the only visual record of this great, lost painting.

 

 

Houghton Hall, Norfolk

 

The magnificent Palladian Houghton Hall in Norfolk is the seat of the Marquess of Cholmondeley. Houghton was once home to the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole.

 

 

Although many of his fêted collection of pictures were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia in 1779 to settle debts, there are many remarkable paintings that are still found at Houghton. The collection’s masterpieces range from Samson and Delilah by Artemisia Gentileschi, to works by John Singer Sargent and the contemporary Australian painter Sir Sidney Nolan.

 

 

Wilton Hall, Wiltshire

 

 

Wilton House stands on the site of a ninth century nunnery founded by King Alfred. This, in turn, was owned by a twelfth century Benedictine abbey which, with its surrounding lawns, was surrendered during the Dissolution of the monasteries, to King Henry VIII, who gave them to William Herbert around 1542. The House has remained in the family since that time and is now the home of William Herbert the 18th Earl of Pembroke. This 450 year old building has attracted visitors from around the world through its history, architecture, art treasures and acres of garden and parkland.

 

 

Inside the House there are paintings by Sir Anthony Van Dyck or by his studio. The picture of Philip, 4th Earl of Pembroke and his family is the largest ever painted by Van Dyck.

 

 

More Historic House collections we represent:

Arundel Castle, West Sussex
Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
Portland Collection, Welbeck, Nottinghamshire
Weston Park, Staffordshire

 

Need assistance? 

 

If you are working on a project and need help sourcing a specific image, email us at uksales@bridgemanimages.com.