Petworth 2013

We visited Petworth in 2009, and were completely blown away. That night, I somehow managed to delete my photos before saving, much less posting, them. And no photos were permitted inside the house. What's inside the house, of course, is one of the world's great residential art collections--all owned and managed by the Tate now, with the National Trust--dozens of Turners and Van Dycks, all manner of Gainsboroughs and Reynolds and such, and even a few Bosch, Massys, Teniers, and such to please us, plus an added sprinkling of Lorrain, Titian, et al. And some William Blake. That's just the paintings. The sculpture, about which we know far less, reputedly is equally impressive and important. Then there are the furnishings, the Carved Room, the historic possessions, etc. The Pleasure Grounds, i.e., the Park, is one of Capability Brown's best known achievements and remains much as Turner painted it nearly two centuries ago.

Much to our surprise and pleasure, the "no fotos!" policy of yore has been eliminated. I was thrilled. Alas, lighting in great houses is not always optimal for viewing and photography, and at Petworth the paintings are displayed pretty much in the manner they were found, that is, old-style, stacked one atop another up and down the walls and halls with little regard for author, period, style, nationality, theme, etc. It's not a museum, but then there are few museums that wouldn't sell their souls for what's at Petworth.

Entrance; the family, who have rights in perpetuity, live in
the far third of the great building

Frontal view, from the grounds

A bit of the grounds, including a bit of Brown's serpentine
lake

Some of the older and more exotic furnishings

In some of the private quarters, opened just now and then

In the Carved Room, reputedly Britain's finest...four Turner
landscapes were painted and placed just so dinner guests
facing away from the grounds would have something nice
to look at; note Big Guy over fireplace...flanked by a variety
of Van Dycks

The Molyneux Globe, earliest known English globe; Molyneux
accompanied Drake on the latter's circumnavigation; the Globe
was a gift from Sir Walter Raleigh...Raleigh and the Earl of
Northumberland were cell-mates at the Tower for a time...

Page from a signed first edition of The
Canterbury Tales (nyuk); actually
just a very old incunible, illuminated, acquired
by the 2nd Earl of Northumberland, whose
wife was Chaucer's grand-niece, 1420s or so

Now in a hall of the kitchens/servants building, decorated
with dozens of old fire-backs

At another house, we were told that servants at Petworth
were expected to turn and face the wall when Members of
the Family entered the room...we'll be going to Downtown
Arby's later in the summer and will get to see how things
really were

No wonder there were so many fires...

Main kitchen

Rotisserie

Cookware

All inscribed to avoid confusion with other families'
cookware...