Lady Betty Germain's Bedroom at Knole
James Holland (Burslem 1799 – London 1870)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1845 - 1845 (exh at BI)
Materials
Oil on board
Measurements
330 x 406 mm (13 x 16 in)
Place of origin
Kent
Order this imageCollection
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
NT 802394
Summary
Oil painting on board (oval), Lady Betty Germain's Bedroom at Knole by James Holland (Burslem 1799 – London 1870). Lady Betty Germain’s bedchamber at Knole, with the figure of a woman seated in front of a mirror. Probably not the picture exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists (Suffolk Street) in 1845 (no.430, ‘The Lady Betty Germain’s Apartments at Knole, the Ancient Seat of the Dukes of Dorset’), which is more likely identifiable with the painting now in the Yale Center for British Art (Acc. no. B 1976.7.43; 27" x 37½"; signed and dated 1845). Rather, the present picture is probably the one shown, with a pendant of the same subject as here, at the British Institution in the same year (no. 171 - assuming that the measurements included the frames). Holland had already exhibited a couple of views of The Spangled Bed Room and The Leicester Gallery at Suffolk Street in 1843; in 1846 he exhibited a view of Knoll [sic] House at the Royal Academy, and in 1849 a view of The Chapel Room, Knole, the Ancient Seat of the Dukes of Dorset at the British Institution- but no further views of the house at any of these institutions thereafter. If this and its pendant were not the actual paintings shown at the British Institution, then perhaps they were modelli for those, which- if their frames were not included in their measurements- were a little larger (but, significantly, the discrepancy in their respective sizes- 18" x 21", as against 13" x 16", was 5" all round, suggesting the uniform width of a frame, rather than two sets of pictures with the same proportions).
Provenance
Earl of Ellesmere, Worsley Hall, Manchester; his sale (occasioned by the inconvenience of maintaining a large property during wartime), Christie’s 18 October 1946, lot 15 (along with SIS/P/6); bought Agnew’s; sold to Harold Nicolson 23 October 1946, for £30 along with SIS/P/6 (Nigel Nicolson has father’s list of picture purchases, saying probably bought from Agnew’s in 1946 for £40); Earl of Ellesmere, Worsley Hall, Manchester; his sale (occasioned by the inconvenience of maintaining a large property during wartime), Christie’s 18 October 1946, lot 15 (along with SIS/P/5); bought Agnew’s; sold to Harold Nicolson 23 October 1946, for £30 along with NT 8022393 (SIS/P/5); thence by descent, on loan from Adam Nicolson, Baron Carnock (b. 1957)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: on back of board in black: No. 4/ The Bed room of Lady Betty Germain/ at KNOLE/ Painted by JAMES HOLLAND; Sale cutting: 486 JAMES HOLLAND 1800 to 1870/ Bedroom of Lady Betty Germain at Knole; Agnew & Sons sale label 12008; Worsley Hall No. 9 spare room 486; Paper label: 486 ..... No 1 Spare Room No. 1.
Makers and roles
James Holland (Burslem 1799 – London 1870), artist