Monday 1st May 1899
Art In The Mansion At Heytesbury Park
John Murray’s Handbook For Residents And Travellers In Wilts And Dorset included the following details for the paintings at Heytesbury House:
On the north side of the town [Heytesbury] is Heytesbury Park, the seat of Lord Heytesbury. Its woods clothe the base of Cotley Hill and sweep in dark plantations of fir to the neighbouring heights. The mansion [Heytesbury House] is modern and perfectly plain, but it contains some fine pictures of the Italian, Spanish, French and Flemish schools, particularly of the Spanish.
In the drawing-room: Guercino: Genius of Painting. Raphael: Holy Family (belonged to Cardinal Mazarin), “an early and careful copy, somewhat hard in form and dark in colour.” – Waagen. Parmegiano: Christ and St. John Baptist (belonged to Madame Murat). Albano: Cupid bending his bow, a copy from Correggio. Teniers: several. Paul Veronese: Moses in the Bulrushes; the Baptism, elevated in sentiment and powerful in colour. Luca Giordano: Philip II, examining the plan of the Escurial, rich composition, conceived as a landscape. J. Juannes: good copy of the Ecce Homo by Roger Van der Weyden the younger; (2) Mater Dolorosa, “of portrait-like but noble character, of pale tone and intensely moving of expression, not a copy, one of the best specimens of the early Spanish school I have ever seen.” – Waagen (companion picture). B. Luini: the Baptism. “Among the few pictures on a small scale by the master, this is the most beautiful I know.” – Waagen. B. Schidone: Virgin and Child, with St. John and Joseph. Murillo: St. John and the Lamb. Zurbaran: two masterly pictures of SS. Jerome and Benedict, saints, life-size. Guercino: the Magdalen, “of unusual nobility of form and expression.”
In the ante-room: G. Poussin: a grand mountainous landscape. Zurbaran: St. Francis; (2) a saint.
In the dining-room: A. Cano: the Magdalen. Van Helmont: May Day; Condemnation of a Deserter. Ribera: St. Jerome. G. Romano: Marriage of St. Catherine. Murillo: Virgin and Child, with SS. Joseph and John. N. Poussin: View of Ponte Molle; (2) Herminia seeking refuge with the Shepherds. Claude: two small landscapes, “delicate and clearly coloured works of his best time. ” S. Rosa: portrait of a man. Zurbaran: the Infant Christ on an ass, with Joseph and St. John, “coarsely realistic in conception, but the heads animated and of masterly treatment.” C. Cignani: Charity. Domenichino: a landscape, with St. John preaching. Vanni: Flight into Egypt.
In the drawing-room is preserved Charles I.’s cap, given by him to Henry Vernon, Esq., of Farnham, at whose house he passed the night on his way to Carisbrooke.
The library contains family portraits of the Ashes and A’Courts; on the staircase are portraits of the Worsleys and Holmes from Appuldurcombe, in the Isle of Wight.