New Scotney Castle, the Entrance Front
John Piper (Epsom 1903 – Henley-on-Thames 1992)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1956
Materials
Watercolour on paper
Measurements
390 x 560 mm
Place of origin
Lamberhurst
Order this imageCollection
Scotney Castle, Kent
NT 790562
Summary
Pen and ink and watercolour on paper, New Scotney Castle, the Entrance Front by John Piper (Epsom 1903 – Henley-on-Thames 1992), signed in black paint, bottom left.
Full description
This painting is an extremely important work in understanding the shared aesthetic interests between Christopher Hussey and the artist John Piper. In particular, it was their common interest in historic British architecture that helped form the basis of their long-standing friendship. The painting shows the entrance front to the New Mansion (or, more properly New Castle) at Scotney designed by the architect Anthony Salvin in the late 1830s for Edward Hussey III. Christopher Hussey inherited this house in 1952 and he included it in his published study of Georgian architecture as an significant example of the last phase of the style’s development. Piper responded to the New Castle by focusing on the two most significant features of Salvin’s architecture. Firstly, Piper has limited his palette to yellow, ochre and grey, which evokes the distinctive sandstone, taken from the quarry just below the site, which was used in the construction of the building. Secondly, Piper also focused primarily on describing the variegated roofline of the house, with its chimney stacks, tower and gables, which Salvin used to give the New Castle a heightened Picturesque effect. The significance of this painting (and the circumstances under which it was given to the Husseys) are explained in a letter dated 10 July 1956 from Christopher to John Piper: ‘Dear John Your visit and Glyndebourne were fun. You certainly could have taken nobody who enjoyed it more than us. And to have presented your painting of a sombrely pleasing Scotney as well is almost overwhelming! It will hang in the hall, to show people how splendid William IV architecture really is’. Scotney Castle has the largest collection of works by the important British modern artist John Piper (1903-1992). Piper, is associated with the Neo-Romantic artists whose work influenced modern British art from the late 1930s through the 1950s. The Neo-Romantic artists took many of their subjects from traditional art – such as landscape painting – and were influenced by the work of British painters such as William Blake (1757-1827) and Samuel Palmer (1805-1881). However, in their use of colour and abstract form they were also influenced by Modern, European artists such as the Cubists. John Piper and his wife Myfanwy (who wrote some of the libretti for Benjamin Britten’s operas), were good friends with Christopher and Betty Hussey. John Piper had been previously aware of Christopher’s writing. As a student, Piper owned a copy of Christopher’s first publication The Picturesque: Studies in a Point of View, 1927, which would have an influence on the development of Piper’s painting style. However, the start of the friendship between Hussey and Piper really only occurred in 1945, when Christopher wrote a review in Country Life magazine of an exhibition of Piper’s works inspired by Sir Osbert Sitwell’s Renishaw Hall, in Derbyshire. Piper wrote to Christopher thanking him for the positive review of the work. And, in return, Christopher wrote back inviting John and his wife Myfanwy to stay with him and Betty at Scotney in the Belfry flat (this was before Christopher had inherited Scotney in 1950). Over a friendship that would last 25 years, 8 works of art by Piper entered the collections at Scotney Castle. In addition, there are numerous publications and exhibition catalogues in the Hussey’s library – some with dedications by the artist to Christopher and Betty. The correspondence between Christopher and John and Betty and Myfanwy also partially survives, with 27 letters in the archives at Tate Britain addressed to the Pipers from the Husseys and with a much, much smaller number surviving from the Pipers to the Husseys at Scotney Castle.
Makers and roles
John Piper (Epsom 1903 – Henley-on-Thames 1992), artist