Wednesday 13 July 2016

Strawberry Hill - Summer Update from 🍓 Hill

Strawberry Hill Welcomes New Addition to Collection

Factum Arte's Reproduction of the Walpoles now on Display in Horace's Blue Bedchamber


Perched on an easel and lit from the window to one side, a fantastic replica of an important family painting from 1754 is now on display in it's original location at Strawberry Hill. In the blue bedchamber you can now find a double portrait of Horace Walpole's parents, Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and wife, Lady Catherine Walpole. The original painting and frame was sold in Strawberry Hill's 'Great Sale' of 1842 and can now be found in the United States.

Both the painting and frame have been meticulously reproduced by Factum Arte, a multi-disciplinary workshop in Madrid dedicated to digital mediation in contemporary art and the production of facsimiles. Works by Factum Arte, who champion reproduction- not fakery, include  Grayson Perry’s tapestries and they are investigating the tomb of Tutankhamen.  Adam Lowe, the founder of Factum Arte, said of the process of reproduction rather than fakery "for me it’s the opposite- it's verisimilitude, it's about revealing more of an object through a copy." It's also a vital record in case the original is destroyed. Of this particular reproduction Lowe said “the very first thing you see is the reflection of the surface of the painting so you believe it straight away. You see the slight relief of the whites which is so important... and a number of other details that let you suspend disbelief”.

The original painting and frame, which  currently hangs in Connecticut, is too fragile to transport. So three technicians from Facturm Arte traveled to record the original, taking 400 high-res photos, then reconstructing over six months in the Milan studio.

The replica painting and frame are now on view to visitors at Strawberry Hill House. Why not visit yourself and decide whether you think digital reproduction is a way forward in an age of auction bidding wars....
 

Strawberry Hill's Summer Concert Series Continues

The Carillon of Cythera
 14 July, 7:30PM


Prize-winning harpsichordist and distinguished teacher, Yeo-Yat Soon returns to Strawberry Hill with a fascinating programme of music inspired by gardens of enchantment and composed by William Byrd, William Lawes, Francois Couperin, Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer and George Frideric Handel.

Book here

Airs for the season
21 July, 7:30 PM

Explore a programme of music from the late 18th Century, including a trio composed for harpist Edward Jones by J C Bach, sonatas with continuo by Abel, Cirri, and Paxton, and a selection of charming suites by James Oswald, each named after a seasonal plant of flower, and maybe a social dance tune or two.
Performers
Rosemary Edwards (Baroque violoncello)
Mike Parker (Single-action harp)
William Summers one-keyed flute 


Book here.
Let us Garlands Bring: a garden for Shakespeare
28 July, 7:30PM


Enjoy an evening of songs & dances including settings of Shakespeare by Dowland, Johnson, Campian & Morley, and poetry and prose by Shakespeare, Spenser, Breton, Nashe & Bacon. This colourful programme features many of the songs from the plays, all in settings of the period, both familiar and unfamiliar.
Book here


GARDEN COURSE: EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN 1680-1790

29 September - 8 December 2016

Horace Walpole was an outspoken critic of the formal garden and one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the new ‘natural’ style that occurred during the 18th Century.
Here at Strawberry Hill in 1771, he published his Essay on Modern Gardening, one of the most influential books on these changes in approach to gardening. This ten week course taught by garden historians Michael Ann Mullen and Stephen Smith covers the period when symmetry and the straight line began to give way to a less rigid framework and garden makers began to incorporate more natural elements like the groves, natural woodland and serpentine streams seen later at Rousham and Stowe.
Every Thursday, 29 September until 8 December 2016 11am - 1pm, Strawberry Hill House, £225 per place. Booking required.