Nostell Priory, 1

Nostell Priory is not one of the household names among great houses. But it has much of great interest: its James Paine/Robert Adam Palladian architecture, its Thomas More connection, some art of note, more Chippendale than almost anywhere else--including some Chippendale for servants--some great faux pieces, perhaps the best doll house so far, and, not least, a clock by a maker of historic interest. We spent most of a day there, and I'll have to do two posts.

The estate really was a priory in the middle ages, but after
the Dissolution went through a couple owners before finally
coming to the Winns, textile merchants from London; above
the central bit by Paine, 1730s, the wing in the distance by
Adam; there was supposed to be a matching wing on this side;
but, there isn't

View from the gorgeous curved staircases; the usual
National Trust family activities going on out on the lawn

You walk into the large entry hall admiring all the armor and
family portraits and what-not, and then, at the far end, are
blown away by this gigantic very old family portrait, The
Family of Thomas More, blown away as much by the size
and quality of the painting as by its subject matter

Thomas More was Henry VIII's Chancellor, confidant, etc.,
whom the king finally had executed for not going along with
the Anglican church thing (A Man for All Seasons, etc.); the
painting is signed by Roland Lockey and dated a couple
generations after the scene depicted and it is thought to be
the best of the copies of the original Holbein; it came to
Nostell Priory after one of More's distant grand-daughters
married into the Winn family; here, however, the plot twists
and the whole thing starts to read like a Dan Brown novel...
analysis of the canvas dates it at exactly the time of Holbein,
not 70 years later when Lockey would have been painting; the
suggestion is that this is one of the original Holbeins (thought
to have been lost) which Lockey merely toyed with and
touched up; that's just the painting; the subject matter is more
intriguing (all this explained to us by a docent), rancid with
all sorts of Medieval and other symbolism; among More's
many writings was a history of the reign of Richard III (used
by Shakespeare among others), and implicit in
some of the symbolism is the suggestion that the two
little princes somehow escaped Richard and were in hiding
and were thus still available...a suggestion Henry might
have found, um, threatening; and thus More's execution
might have  been due to more than just the disagreement
about the Reformation and Henry being the head of the
church of England; another interpretation is that
the guy identified in the painting as "Thomas Pattison"
really is Henry VIII, and the whole scene depicts a visit
the king made to the More household (in happier times)
to see More's daughters engage in philosophical
disputation...More was an advocate for the education of
women, a novel notion...[photo off the web]

Moving right along, here's merely a Younger Brueghel
Procession to Calvary

Comfy living..Chippendales everywhere you look

A Quentin Massys we've seen before

We saw several of these beds at Chatsworth...called a
Polonnaise, after the style of a Polish skirt...

Faux door on the left; I've gotten some skill in detecting
these; symmmetry, you know

Dining room

Music room

Withdrawing room; the sofas and chairs recently re-covered
to period for a cost of about $50k

Desk in study

One of the 30 Chippendale servant's chairs
at Nostell Priory; visitors may sit on them

In the massive library, a faux panel

Thus, with the door mostly closed

Just an ordinary low chest?

No...conceals the ladder whereby servants
can fetch the books on higher  shelves