The visitor enters by the 18th century arch into the north forecourt, constructed at the beginning of the 19th century. A small gate in the east wall of the fore court leads to the garden, with the lawns 200 years old, and the many cedars of Lebanon, all of which descend from the first ones, planted in the 17th century, some of which still stand.
Views of the east, south and west fronts of the house, and of the 18th century “Palladian” Bridge across the River Nadder, are obtained from the garden, where will be found the Tudor entrance porch of the original house, and the “Italian” garden, laid out in the first half of the 19th century, opposite the west front.
The Visitors’ Entrance to the house is through the door on the east side, directly under the clock.
Buildings on the site of the present house were in existence by the 8th century, when a Priory was estab lished by King Egbert. About 871, King Alfred granted lands and manors to the Church, and Wilton became an Abbey, increasing in size and riches during the next 600 years. The earliest Abbey document, a grant of land by Hawis, Abbess of Wilton, temp: Henry II., c.1160, is preserved in the Muniment Room, but the only Abbey building still standing, which dates from about the 12th century, is the small stone Court of the Belhouse, or feudal Court of the Seignory, which lies west of the riding school, stables and garage. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Abbey of Wilton had been consider ably reduced in power and wealth, and the last Abbess, Cecelia Bodenham, and thirty-one nuns, retired to a neighbouring village.
The family of Herbert is of Welsh origin, and by the end of the 15th century was prominent in the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Sir Richard Herbert, a Gentleman Usher to Henry VII. and Constable of Aber gavenny Castle in 1509, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Mathew Cradock of Swansea, Glamorgan, and they had three sons. William, the eldest, was born in 1506; little is known of his early life, except that he was involved in a brawl at Bristol where he killed a man, but escaped into South Wales, and from there to France where he became a soldier, and according to Aubrey, he showed so much courage and readiness of wit in conduct that he was favoured by Francis I., who afterwards recommended him to Henry VIII.
Returning to England, William Herbert married, circa 1534, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal, and sister of Catherine, who married Henry VIII. as his sixth and last wife in 1543. But even before he became related by marriage to the King, William Herbert was in high favour; in 1542 he was granted a Coat of Arms and Crest, and two years later he was given the Abbey and lands of Wilton by the King. He then proceeded to pull down the buildings and began to build a house worthy of his position. There is a tradition, though no proof, that he consulted Hans Holbein, the Court painter and designer, and that the house (as well as the exquisite entrance porch which still exists though no longer attached to the main building) was erected from his designs. As Holbein died in 1543 William Herbert lost no time, if the story be true, in consulting the most famous artist of the period then living in England. No records in the shape of letters or drawings have survived from that time, except three vellum rolls, made in 1566-7, which contain the survey of all the lands in possession of the family, and on one of which is a drawing of the house, similar in shape and design as that which exists to-day. It was finished about 1550.
But meanwhile William Herbert had become a great power in England. On the death of Henry VIII. he was made an executor of his will, and appointed one of the guardians of Edward VI. In 1549 he was installed a Knight of the Garter, and made Master of the Horse; in October, 1551, he was created Lord Herbert of Cardiff, and Earl of Pembroke. He was also a member of the Privy Council, and President of the Council in Wales. The next year he entertained Edward VI. in his new house at Wilton. On the death of the King in 1553, Lord Pembroke retained the favour of Queen Mary, and welcomed Philip of Spain at Southampton, and was present at their marriage at Winchester. In 1557 he was appointed Captain General of the English Army to defend Calais, and commanded it at the battle of St. Quentin.
On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, that Sovereign retained his services, and Lord Pembroke continued to wield much power till his death at Hampton Court on March 17th, 1570. He was buried in old St. Paul’s Cathedral.
His eldest son, Henry, succeeded him. He was born about 1534, and had married in 1553 Catherine Grey, daughter of Henry, Duke of Suffolk, and sister of Lady Jane Grey, but for political reasons after the fall of the Grey family, the marriage was declared null and void. He married secondly in 1562-3, Lady Catherine Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury. There were no children and she died in 1575. Two years later he married Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Sidney, and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. Henry, Lord Pembroke, a Knight of the Garter like his father, held many high offices under Queen Elizabeth; he was President of the Council in Wales, Lord Lieutenant of North and South Wales, and of Hereford, Shropshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Worcester, a General in the Army and Admiral in the Navy.
It is recorded that in 1574 he entertained Queen Elizabeth at Wilton, and may have done so on further occasions when married to Mary Sidney, who, with her husband, patronised the stage and literature, so much so that, to quote Aubrey again, “in her time Wilton House was like a college, there were so many learned and ingeniose persons. She was the greatest patronesse of wit and learning of any lady of her time.” Philip Massinger, Ben Johnson, Samuel Daniel, Edmund Spenser and Christopher Marlowe, to name but a few, were often at Wilton; Philip Sidney wrote his “Arcadia,” dedicated to his sister, while staying there, and, if tradition can be believed, Shakespeare and his company of players gave the first performance of “Twelfth Night” or “As you like it” – both plays have been mentioned – in the house not long after the death of Henry Lord Pembroke in January, 1600-1.
He was succeeded by his eldest son William, born in 1580; Queen Elizabeth was his Godmother, and the Earls of Leicester and Warwick his Godfathers. He married in 1604 Mary, daughter of the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury; their two sons died in infancy. In 1603 he was made a Knight of the Garter; in 1607 Governor of Portsmouth, and in 1617 Lord Chamberlain to James I. In 1626 he was made Chancellor of Oxford University, and Lord Steward to Charles I. During his life, Wilton continued to be a centre of art and learning and was visited by James I. and Charles I. William, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, died on April 10th, 1630.
He was succeeded by his brother Philip, born in 1584. He, married in 1604, Lady Susan Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford. On January 1st, 1605, he was created Lord Herbert of Shurland and Earl of Montgomery, and he assumed the title of Pembroke as well on his brother’s death. In 1608 he was made a Knight of the Garter and Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James I. With his elder brother, he was a patron of the arts and letters and the first folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623 was dedicated “to the most noble and incomparable paire of brethren William, Earl of Pembroke and Lord Chamberlain to the King’s most excellent Majestie, and Philip, Earl of Montgomery, Gentleman of His Majestie’s Bedchamber. Both Knights of the most noble Order of the Carter, and our singular good Lords.”
On the death of James I., William became Lord Steward and Philip Lord Chamberlain to Charles I., who with Henrietta Maria “loved Wilton above all places and went there every summer.” The brothers made alterations to the house and greatly added to the contents with pictures, books and tapestries; Philip employed Isaac de Caux to construct an immense formal garden, 800 feet long and 400 feet wide on the south side of the house. The book showing the design is preserved in the house. On his brother’s death in 1630, he followed him as Chancellor of Oxford University; he commissioned Sir Anthony Van Dyck to paint the great family group as well as individual portraits.
In 1628-9, his first wife (who bore him nine children, of whom five survived him) died, and the following year he married Anne Clifford, Countess Dowager of Dorset, and daughter and heiress of the 3rd Earl of Cumberland, but there were no children of this marriage. In the Civil Wars, Philip Lord Pembroke hovered first on one side and then on the other, finally abandoning the King, and thereby preserving his house and estates. About 1647 a disastrous fire occurred at Wilton, which destroyed all but the centre of the east front, and most of the contents.
Philip immediately commissioned Inigo Jones to rebuild it, and though both he and his architect died before the house was finished, the first in 1649, and the second in 1652, it was completed by Inigo Jones’s nephew, John Webb, for Philip, 5th Earl of Pembroke and 2nd Earl of Montgomery, who succeeded his father, his elder brother, Charles Lord Herbert, who had married Lady Mary Villiers, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, in 1634, having died the following year of smallpox in Italy.
The plans for the reconstructed house have not survived the passage of years, but on six sheets of paper, discovered fifteen years ago, are designs by Inigo Jones for six of the doors to the State rooms, and there are notes by him and Webb on each sheet. The exterior plan of the house, which is built of local Chilmark stone, followed that of the Tudor one, a square on the points of the compass, with the forecourt and entrance to the east, and a great paved inner quadrangle. The Tudor centre of the east front survived the fire, and Inigo Jones built his house on to it, with four towers at each corner. The principal State rooms were contained inside part of the east and the whole of the south front, which remains unaltered to-day. These rooms, seven in number, six of which are shown, were mostly lined with pine panelling, elaborately carved and gilded, from floor to cornice, and the ceilings con tained canvas paintings, and the plaster work was frescoed, by English and foreign artists. These will be described later.
The west front contained a further four rooms and a Chapel, and the north front the entrance staircase and Great Hall, which it is thought, was on the same site as the Great Hall of the Tudor house and Abbey buildings. The new house was completed c.1653, and Philip, the 5th Earl, who had married in 1639, Penelope, daughter of Sir Robert Naunton (she died in 1647 leaving a son, William), lived an uneventful life as far as is known, taking little part in public affairs. He had been on the side of the King during the Civil Wars but was not molested by the Commonwealth, and at the Restoration became a favourite with Charles II., whose spurs he bore at the Coronation. He married secondly in 1649, Catherine, daughter of Sir William Villiers, and there were seven children, two sons, Philip and Thomas, and five daughters.
Philip, 5th Lord Pembroke, died in 1669, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William, who had been born in 1640, and he died unmarried in 1674. His half- brother, Philip, who succeeded as 7th Earl of Pembroke and 4th Earl of Montgomery, was a notorious drunken, blasphemous fighting man and a spendthrift. He was twice accused of murder, and found guilty of manslaughter and committed to the Tower. He married in 1675 Henriette de Querouaille, youngest sister of Louise, Duchess of Portsmouth, and they had one daughter, Charlotte. On his death in 1683, many of the contents of Wilton had to be sold to pay his debts.
He was succeeded by his brother, Thomas, a man of great learning, who held many high offices under five Sovereigns. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Wiltshire, Monmouth and South Wales, a member of the Privy Council, and of the Board of Admiralty, Lord Privy Seal, and Lord High Admiral. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1700. He travelled much on the Continent where he employed agents to buy pictures, sculpture, coins and books, and the present collection of works of art by foreign artists is due to him. The most famous picture he acquired was the “Wilton Diptych,” which remained at Wilton till 1929 when it was bought by the National Gallery. He also purchased many of the Arundel, Mazarin, and Giustianini marbles, and formed a magnificent library of books and drawings. By importing French weavers, he founded the famous Wilton Royal Carpet Factory. Thomas Lord Pembroke married first in 1684, Margaret, only daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Sawyer, and had by her, who died in 1706, seven sons, the eldest called Henry, and five daughters. He married secondly in 1708, Barbara, daughter of Sir Thomas Slingsby, and widow successively of Sir Richard Mauleverer and Lord Arundel. She had one daughter and died in 1722. He married thirdly in 1725, Mary Howe, daughter of Viscount Howe, but there were no children. Thomas Lord Pembroke died in 1733.
Henry, the eldest son of his first marriage succeeded; he was born in 1688, entered the army, and eventually became a Lieutenant-General. He was also made a Lord of the Bedchamber to George II. But his real interest lay in the arts, like so many of his ancestors, and he was an architect of some importance, and a friend of Lord Burlington and William Kent. His chief claim to fame lies in the construction of the beautiful bridge across the River Nadder, to the south of the house, to do which he destroyed the de Caux formal garden and altered the course of the river, and landscaped the garden in the prevailing fashion. His foreman or clerk of works at this time was Roger Morris, who himself was a notable architect, and together they designed the “Palladian” Bridge, which was completed in 1737, as well as Lady Suffolk’s house at Marble Hill, Twickenham, a lodge in Windsor Park, and a water house at Houghton. Lord Pembroke also super intended the construction of old Westminster Bridge, keeping the records and minutes of the meetings. The “Architect Earl” married in 1733, Mary, eldest daughter of Richard, 5th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion, Co. Dublin, and they had one child, Henry, born in 1734, who, on his father’s death in 1749, succeeded.
He entered the army, eventually becoming a General and Colonel of the Royals. He was a great authority on horses and riding, and wrote books on military equitation. Following his ancestors, he was made Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, and a Lord of the Bedchamber to George III., whom, with Queen Charlotte, he entertained at Wilton for two nights in 1778. He travelled extensively on the Continent, and his letters have been published. He built a tennis court and riding school at Wilton, and employed Sir Joshua Reynolds and David Morier to paint portraits. In 1756 he married Lady Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of Charles, Duke of Marlborough, and dying in 1794, he was succeeded by his only son (his daughter having died young), George, who was born in 1759.
George, 11th Earl of Pembroke, and 8th Earl of Mont gomery, after an extensive grand tour abroad, entered the army and became a Member of Parliament, and Vice Chamberlain of the Household. He married in 1787, his first cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Topham and Lady Diana Beauclerk, and had three sons and one daughter. The eldest and youngest sons died young, and his wife died in 1793. In 1801 he employed James Wyatt to alter the house, in order to make it more convenient and warmer, as well as to give more room for the pictures and statuary. The west and north fronts, including the Great Hall, and the north-west and north-east towers, were pulled down. Inside the great quadrangle, he built a double tiered Gothic cloister. The “Holbein” entrance porch was banished to the garden (where it still stands with a rear addition); the old east entrance was made into a garden entrance, and by raising the level of the ground on the north side of the house, a new forecourt, enclosed by walls, was constructed; a Gothic entrance porch added to the north exterior, and the towers rebuilt; and the triumphal arch, surmounted by an equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in lead, designed by Sir William Chambers, circa 1755, was taken down from the summit of the hill in the Park on the south side of the house, and re-erected to form the entrance gates to which Wyatt added to stone lodges on either side.
The west side contained a library seventy feet long, and a chapel; the north side a hall, dining room, bedrooms and offices. The whole work was carried out in the then fashionable Gothic style, and took eleven years to complete.
In 1808 George Lord Pembroke married as his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Count Simon Woronzow, Russian Ambassador in London, and had six more children, one son, Sidney, later Lord Herbert of Lea, and five daughters. In 1807 he had become a knight of the Garter, and in 1812 he was promoted General. He died in 1827 and was succeeded by the surviving son of his first marriage, Robert, who lived abroad and died unmarried in 1862. His half-brother, Sidney, rented Wilton from him. Sidney Herbert, born in 1810, married in 1846, Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles A’Court, and had four sons and three daughters; he entered Parliament in 1832, and in 1845 became Secretary at War at the age of thirty-five. He held this office twice, and it was due to the powerful support which he gave to Florence Nightingale that she went out to the Crimean War. Dying in 1861 (nine months before his half-brother) his eldest son, George, who was born in 1850, succeeded his uncle.
He married in 1874, Lady Gertrude Talbot, daughter of the 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, but there were no children; George Lord Pembroke was a man of literary and artistic tastes, but ill-health prevented him from taking an active part in public life, and he died in 1895.
He was succeeded by his brother, Sidney, who was born in 1853; he was a Member of Parliament from 1877 to 1895, and Lord Steward to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. from 1895 to 1905. He married in 1877, Lady Beatrix Lambton, eldest daughter of the 2nd Earl of Durham, and had two sons and two daughters, and died in 1913.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, Reginald, as 15th Earl of Pembroke, and 12th Earl of Montgomery ; born in 1880, he entered the army in 1899, retiring as Lieuten ant-Colonel in 1919. He married in 1904, Lady Beatrice Paget, daughter of Lord Alexander Paget, and sister of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey, and they have three sons and one daughter. Shortly after succeeding his father, Lord Pembroke extensively altered the north side of the house, removing Wyatt’s Gothic entrance porch, and “ungothicis ing” some of the rooms, including the library in the west side. Various interior alterations have been made since, such as the removal of the stained glass windows in the cloisters, and the removal of Wyatt’s wooden Gothic clock turret on the Tudor tower of the east front is contemplated, and a smaller one, of a 16th century design, will be substituted.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ROOMS AND THEIR CONTENTS.
Until the alterations were made by James Wyatt between 1800 and 1811, this had been the main entrance arch since the 16th century. The coaches and carriages drove in under the house to the great paved court, and drew up at the Holbein porch which was attached to the north side of the court. The changes made by Wyatt included the construction of a new staircase from the Gothic Hall to the first floor, and the hall has since been used as a garden entrance.
On the walls, framed, are: the grant of Arms and Crest to William Herbert and his wife, dated 1542; the grant by Henry VIII. of the Abbey and lands of Wilton to William Herbert, dated 1544; the letters patent creating Sir William Herbert K.G., Lord Herbert of Cardiff and Earl of Pembroke, by Edward VI, dated 1551; the letters patent creating Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery by James I, dated 1605; the letters patent creating Richard Lord Weston, Earl of Portsmouth by Charles I, dated 1633. This title became extinct in 1686, and passed to Sir Edward Herbert who died in 1698.
The busts are of Henry, 9th Earl of Pembroke, his wife, Mary Fitzwilliam, Sir Andrew Fountaine, antiquary, and Martin Folkes, President of the Royal Society, all by Louis Francois Roubiliac (1702-1762); Sidney, Lord Herbert of Lea (1811-1861) by Foley; Elizabeth, his wife, by L. Macdonald, done in Rome, 1848; Florence Nightingale by Sir John Steell, done in Edinburgh, 1865, and Georgina, Countess of Shelburne, sister of Lord Herbert of Lea.
II. THE LITTLE SMOKING ROOM.This room and the adjoining one, were built and decorated by Inigo Jones and Webb, but the colours of the walls have often been changed. The pictures include three by David Morier (1705-1770) of Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke and his son, George Lord Herbert, with friends, officers and grooms; Henry, the 10th Earl in uniform of the 1st Dragoon Guards (probably by Pompeo Batoni); Archdeacon William Coxe (1747-1828) by Sir William Beechey (1753-1859); Sir Edward Nicholas (1593 1669), Secretary of State to Charles I. and II., by Adrian Hanneman; and Alexander Pope after Michael Dahl.
III. THE SMOKING ROOM.
On the west and north walls hang a unique set of 55 pictures, in rose-red and gold frames, of the Spanish “Haute Ecole” Riding School, painted in gouache by a famous Austrian Riding Master, Baron D’Eisenberg, (whose portrait in oils, thought to be by himself is also shown) in the middle of the 18th century. They were given by him to Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke. Also shown are 10 small pictures in oil by David Morier of British Regiments, and officers’ chargers, painted c.1764, and of General the Honourable Sir James Campbell, K.B., Colonel of the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (Scots Greys), painted circa 1744.
The furniture consists of English and French 18th and 19th century tables and chairs, and modern sofas and arm chairs.
IV. THE GOTHIC HALL STAIRCASE.
Constructed by James Wyatt, it replaces what was known as the “Geometrical staircase” of the Inigo Jones- Webb house. The ceiling is modern.
The principle pictures are “Christ washing the Disciples’ feet” by Tintoretto (1512-1594), “Democritus” by Ribera (1588-1656), a shepherd and shepherdess by Bloernart (1564-1658), “Soldiers quarrelling over Christ’s garments” by Jacopo Palma (1544-1628), and Thomas, 8th Earl of Pembroke, by William Wissing (1656-87). The busts are of George, 11th Earl of Pembroke, by Sir Richard Westmacott, a posthumous work done in 1830, and of Lord Pembroke’s brother-in-law, Prince Michael Weronzow, by Pietro Tenerani (1798-1869); and two terracotta Busts of Lord Chancellor Bacon and Thomas, 8th Earl of Pembroke.
V. THE LITTLE ANTE-ROOM.
This room is the first of the State Rooms, and with the exception of the early nineteenth century red “flock” paper on the walls of this and the next room, the decora tion remains as carried out by Inigo Jones and Webb.
The canvas painting in the centre of the ceiling is by Lorenzo Sabbatini (1530-1577) showing the birth of Venus; the principal pictures are “The Nativity” by Hugo van der Goes (?1435-1482); “The Card Players” by Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533); “Holy Family” by Barend van Orley, (1491-1542); “A man amusing children with a rummel pot” by Frans Hals (1580-1666); “portrait of a man,” by Caspar Netscher (1639-84); a river scene by Jan van Goyen (1596-1666); a man smoking a pipe by David Temiers (1610-1694); “The Entombment” (?South Germsm School c.1500); “Interior of a farm house” Egbert van Heemskerk (1645-1704); a sketch by Van Dyck of the Duke D’Epernon, and “The Church of St. Michael, Antwerp” by Jan ver der Heyden (1637 1712).
The furniture is 18th century English and French.
VI. THE CORNER ROOM.
From the east window of this room can be seen Salisbury Cathedral spire, three miles away; to prevent obstruction of this view, trees in the garden, park and water meadows have sometimes to be felled, and branches constantly cut back. From the south window the “Palladian” Bridge over the River Nadder can be seen, with the park beyond.
The canvas painting in the centre of the ceiling, representing the conversion of St. Paul, by Luca Giordano (1632-1705), is surrounded by plaster work painted by Andien de Clermont (died 1783).
The principal pictures are: over the fireplace, Prince Rupert by Gerard van Honthorst (1590-1656); “Leda and the Swan” by Cesare da Sesto (?1480-?1521); “The Infant Christ, St. John and two angels” and a Landscape, both by Rubens (1577-1640); “Descent from the Cross,” School of Fontainebleau, XVIth century (this picture was painted for Diane de Poitiers); two children with a toy bird by N. Poussin (1594-1665); a picture gallery by Jan Francken (1599-1653); interior of a Dutch school by Richard Brakenburg (1650-1702); “Holy Family” by Francesco Penni (1488-1528); a landcape by Claude Gellee (1600-1682); “Ruins and Figures” by Paolo Pannini (1691-1764), “St. Anthony” by Lorenzo Lotto (?1480-1556), and “The Assumption of the Virgin,” perhaps also by Lotto; and “The Virgin and Child with St. John and two angels” by Andrea del Sarto (1486 -1531).
The furniture is 17th and 18th century English and French.
VI. THE COLONNADE ROOM
Formerly the State Bedroom, since used as a sitting room; decorated in white and gold, with English and French 17th, 18th and 19th century furniture, which includes Buhl tables, made between 1642 and 1732.
The ceiling was painted by Andien de Clermont in 1735 or 1739 in the “Singerie” manner.
The following pictures are by Sir Joshua Reynolds: Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke; his wife, Elizabeth Spencer, and their son, George Lord Herbert (two versions); Lady Pembroke’s father, Charles, 3rd Duke of Marlborough; her eldest brother, George, 4th Duke of Marlborough, and her younger brother, Lord Charles Spencer; Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol; two pictures; Sir William Beechey (1753-1839) of Elizabeth Beauclerk, first wife of George Lord Herbert; and of Captain Augustus Montgomery, R.N., illegitimate son of the 10th Earl of Pembroke. George, 11th Earl of Pembroke, by William Owen (1769-1825), and of his father-in-law Count Simon Woronzow by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). Over the fireplace is “The Madonna” by Sassoferrato, with a wreath of flowers by Mario Nuzzi (1603-1673).
VIII. THE GREAT ANTE-ROOM.
Before the Wyatt alterations to the house, a “painted staircase” led from this room down to the inner quad rangle; Wyatt abolished it, and put in another door to connect with the cloisters. The cabinets in the alcoves are modern. Tlic room is decorated in the same style as the other State rooms; the ceiling is probably by de Clermont.
The principal pictures are: Rembrandt’s portrait of his mother; a portrait of a man by Cornelis Vermeyen (?1500 1559); three portraits by Van Dyck or his School, of him self, Philip, 5th Earl of Pembroke, and of the Countess of Castlehaven; three seascapes by William van de Velde, the younger (1633-1707); the children of Christian 11., King of Denmark by Jan Gossart de Mabuse (?1472-1533); Francis II. and Charles .IX. of France (School of Clouet, 1517-1572).
In the alcove cabinet nearest the window is the fine white and gold Crown Derby “Garter ” service made for George, 11th Earl of Pembroke, K.G., about 1810.
The right hand cabinet contains a set of 18th century Waterford or Bristol glass of basket-work design.
The pair of tables with ” scagliola ” slabs, inlaid with playing cards and envelopes, date from about 1700.
IX. THE DOUBLE CUBE.
This room measures 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high, and is so-called because it is double the size of the adjoining room which is a perfect cube. Designed by Inigo Jones and completed by Webb, circa 1653, the walls are pine panelled, painted white, and elaborately decorated with swags of fruit, flowers, foliage, draperies, ciphers and coronets, all gilded in different shades of gold. The room, which has been called the finest proportioned room in England, retrains exactly the same to-day as when it was built; it was used in the 17th and 18th centuries as a dining room, and in the 19th and 20th centuries as a sitting room and ballroom. Kings and Queens of England from George III. and Queen Charlotte to their Majesties King George VI. and Queen Elizabeth, and Sovereigns from many foreign countries have sat and danced in it, and during the 1939-45 war, when the house was used by the British Army as headquarters of Southern Command, the I’ouble Cube was the ” operations ” room, and played an important part in the defence of the country, and in the planning of the invasion of the Continent in 1944.
Dominating the room on the west wall is Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s largest family group, of the Herbert family, measuring 17 feet in length and 11 feet in height, painted in London, circa 1634. Seated, wearing a black dress, with the Garter and Star, and holding his wand of office, is Philip, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Mont gomery; on his left, seated in a black dress, is his second wife, Anne Clifford, Countess Dowager of Dorset, whom he married in 1630; to her left, standing in a blue dress is Lord Pembroke’s daughter Sophia, who married Robert Dormer, Earl of Carnarvon (of the first creation), who is standing beside her in a brown Court dress; he was killed at the battle of Newbury in 1643. On Lord Pembroke’s right, standing, in an orange Court dress, is his eldest son, Charles Lord Herbert, who died in Italy of smallpox, the year after the picture was painted. His bride of this year, 1634, was Lady Mary Villiers, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, and she is standing below him in a white dress. The second son, Philip, is standing in a yellow Court dress, and to his right on lower steps are three younger sons, William, James and John, and above are three more children who died in infancy, shown as angels.
Over the doors to the left and right of this picture are half-length portraits by Van Dvck of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria. Looking towards the fireplace, to the left, are full-length portraits of Lady Isabella Rich, daughter of the Earl of Holland (no trace can be found of any relationship between her and the Herbert family); William, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, K.G., wearing a black Court dress, with Garter and Star, and holding his wand of office as Lord Steward to Charles I. Both there portraits are by Van Dyck, though that of the 3rd Earl is said to have been painted posthumously from the statue by Le Sueur in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Over the fireplace is Van Dyck’s portrait of Charles IL, James IL, and Princess Mary, children of Charles L; a similar picture is at Windsor (castle and another belongs to the Earl of Clarendon. To the right is Philip, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and 1st Earl of Montgomery, in black, with Garter and Star, and holding the wand of office as Lord Chamberlain to Charles L, by Van Dyck; next to him is his daughter in-law, first wife of Philip, 5th Karl, Penelope Naunton, in a white dress, by Van To the right of the great double doors is the portrait of the Duke of Richmond in a black dress, wearing, the garter and Star (School of Van Dyck). The Duke of Richmond was the second husband of Mary Villiers.
The oval and oblong paintings in the ceiling, representing the story of Perseus, are supposed to have been painted htir I:mantic] do C:ritz, who, with his two brothers, Thomas and john, were working in England for James 1. and Charles 1. The coved plaster portion of the ceiling was painted by Edward Pierce, circa 1653; the family motto in old French ” Ung je serviray ” (one I serve) is seen on this and other ceilings, as well as the coat of arms of three lions, and the letters PM (Pembroke and Montgornerl-) surmounted by an Earl’s coronet is both painted and carved in wood, it,, c ic1t of the State Rooms.
The furniture, made for the room by William Kent (1685-1748) and Thornas Chippendale (1718-1779) consists of large and small settees, chairs and stools, finely carved and gilded, Nvitli the seats, arms and backs covered with crimson Genoa velvet, dating from about 1810 or perhaps earlier. The curtains of this room., the Single Cube and Colonnade Room are all of this mrie material and date; the carved wood pel:ncts are somewhat later. The mirrors between the windows were made by Chippendale between 1751 and 1758. The tables, painted in white and gold, with marble or porphyry tops, were designed by Kent; the smaller “‘ dolphin ” ones are in his style, and may date from the Regency period, as do the ” torcheres ” at the west end of the room. The sofa under the great picture is of 18th or early 19th century design.
X. THE SINGLE CUBE.
Thirty feet long, wide, and high, this room is the sixth of the Inigo Jones-Webb State Rooms, and is panelled in pine, painted white, with gold leaf on the carving from the dado to the cornice. The marble chimney-piece is contemporary with the room, as are those in the other rooms. Below the dado rail on all four sides of the room are scenes from Sir Philip Sidney’s ” Arcadia,” painted by Thomas de Critz in the 17th century.
The canvas painting in the centre of the ceiling, representing ” Daedalus and Incarus ” by Giuseppe Cesari (1568-1640) was part of the original decorative plan, but the cooed plaster work was painted by Andien de Clermont in 1735 or 1739, the two years in which he worked at Wilton. He decorated five of the ceilings of the State rooms, for which he charged P.214.
The pictures are as follows: North wall, over the fire place, Henriette de Querouaille, Countess of Pembroke, wife of Philip, 7th Earl, by Sir Peter Lely; over the doors, Henry Lord Herbert, afterwards 9th Earl, by Jonathan Richardson, and the Lady Catherine and the Hon. Robert Herbert, eldest daughter and second son of Thomas, 8th Earl, by Jonathan Richardson.
East wall, centre, Philip, 4th Earl, by Daniel Mytens; over the doors, Thomas, 8th Earl, by Willem Wissing, and his first wife, Barbara, by Jan van der Vaart.
West wall, left. of the door, the Countess of Morton and Mrs. Killigrew, by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, and above, the Hon. James Herbert and his wife, Jane Spiller, by Sir Peter Lely; right of door, the Earl and Countess of Bedford, by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, and above, Catherine, Countess of Pembroke, second wife of Philip, 5th Earl, and her sister, by Sir Peter Lely.
The settees and chairs, upholstered in red velvet, are by Thomas Chippendale and his son (18th and early 19th centuries) and the tables are by or in the style of William Kent and Chippendale. The mirror between the windows is early 19th. century.
The bills, preserved in the lluniment Room, for furniture and general upholstery from Thomas Chip pendale, his son, Thomas, and from the firm of Haig and Chippendale, from 1763 to 1792, amounted to k1651 l 7s. 4d.
XI. THE CLOISTERS AND FRONT HALL.
Wyatt’s Gothic cloisters of stone and plaster, completed about 1811, contain most of the statuary collected at the beginning of the 18th century. On the west wall are four pictures of Westcombe House, Blackheath, which belonged to Thomas, 8th Earl, and Henry, 9th Earl, between 1720 and 1750, by George Lambert (1710-1765), the figures being painted by Hogarth. Between the pictures are the cabinets made by Thomas Chippendale for the house, the centre one being the largest and most elaborately carved, known as the ” Violin ” cabinet.
On the south wall are two pictures by Samuel Scott (1702?-1772) of Covent Garden and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and a topographical view of Wilton at the beginning of the 18th century, probably by Leonard Knyff (1650-1721).
On the east wall hang Richard Wilson’s (1714-1782) five views of Wilton showing the house from different angles, as well as the garden, bridge, grottoes, temple and the park.
Furniture includes a set of Regency chairs and settees, and English and foreign chairs, chests and tables of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. A model of a warship of the reign of Charles is shown in its contemporary cabinet and stand.
Standing on the centre table in the front hall is the statue of Shakespeare, designed by William Kent, and sculpted by Scheemakers in 1743, for which the 9th Lord Pembroke paid the sum of £75 18s. 44d.
Pictures include “The death of Sir Philip Sidney at the battle of Zutphen ” and a ” Flemish nobleman hawking,” both 17th century Dutch School; Sidney, Lord Herbert of Lea (1811-1861) by Sir Francis Grant, and of his mother, Catherine Woronzow, Countess of Pembroke, by the same artist.
