Fête in Petworth Park, 1835
William Frederick Witherington, RA (London 1785 - London 1865)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1836 (initialled and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
838 x 1207 mm (33 x 47 ½ in)
Place of origin
Petworth
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486139
Caption
It had been Lord Egremont’s (George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl [1751-1837]) custom to feast the poor of the adjoining villages every winter. In 1834 he had been ill, but being determined to hold the dinner he postponed it until the following summer. There is an account of the occasion in Greville’s Diary. On 23 May 1834, Greville relates how he visited Petworth and saw “the finest feast that could be given”. Fifty-four tables each fifty feet long were placed in a semi-circle on the lawn before the house and two marquees were erected. Four thousand invitations were sent out but Lord Egremont threw open the gates to all who happened to be passing and it is probable that in the event 6,000 people attended. In the evening there were fireworks. The success of the fête must have led Lord Egremont to repeat it in the summer of 1835, when the present picture was painted.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Fête in Petworth Park, 1835, by William Frederick Witherington, RA (London 1785 - London 1865), signed W.F.W. 1836. View of a feast laid on by the 3rd Earl of Egremont on June 9, 1835, for local people in Petworth Park. At left is a crowd of people, on the hill. Lord Egremont, then aged 84, is on horseback, beyond a flag with, below, coaches, deer, a ring of benches, with people walking in the arena and two marquees. The house can be seen in the centre distance.
Provenance
by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1957 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
W.F.W. 1836 (signed)
Makers and roles
William Frederick Witherington, RA (London 1785 - London 1865), artist
Exhibition history
The Treasure Houses of Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA, 1985 - 1986, no.547