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Lot Essay
This chandelier is believed to have originally hung at Attingham Park in Shropshire. Attingham was designed by the architect George Steuart between 1782-80 for Noel Hill, 1st Lord Berwick. Following his untimely death in 1789, he was succeeded by his eldest and profligate son, Thomas, 2nd Lord Berwick (d.1832), who embarked upon a Grand Tour of Italy in 1792-92. His companion on the trip, the Rev. Edward Clarke, commented that by 1792 the 2nd Baron 'had left me to follow my own taste in painting and sculpture'. So began an extravagant spending spree - both in Rome and on his return to England - which embraced masterpieces by Titian, Raphael, Murillo, Hackert, Kauffman and many others - that grew so large that he had to commission Nash in 1805-7 to build him a picture gallery. By 1810, Lord Berwick had admitted to his brother not 'having the resolution to abstain from Building and Picture buying' - and it is possible that this chandelier was acquired around the time of his marriage to Sophia Dubouchet in 1812. When the final crash came, it was calamitous. As a result, most of the picture collection was sold at Philips in London in 1825, whilst the works of art and furniture was sold in a sixteen-day sale of the contents conducted by Mr. Robins from 30 July 1827, followed by another in July-August 1829. It would seem most probable, therefore, that the chandelier was sold at this time. Having said that, some of the chandeliers remaining at Attingham do appear to closely recall the descriptions in Robin's catalogue and so it is entirely possible that some were 'bought in' or bought back by Lord Berwick's brother and heir, William Noel Hill (d.1842). A chandelier of this same design and apparently en suite to the Crowe chandelier, but with two tiers, still hangs in the Drawing Room at Attingham today. This raises a third possibility - that a new suite of chandeliers was purchased for the principal reception rooms at Attingham by William Noel Hill soon after the 1827 sale.
William Noel-Hill, later 3rd Baron Berwick, did succeed in buying back nineteen family portraits and pictures. He was also a considerable connoisseur in his own right, assembling a very large collection of his own whilst serving as Ambassador to the Court of Sardinia and Turin (between 1808-24) and to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (between 1824-33). During the course of his twenty-five years in Italy, William Noel Hill amassed a large collection of Paintings, Books and Furniture, some possibly made for Napoleon's sister, Caroline Murat, whose palace in Naples was subsequently occupied by Hill. He also acquired a magnificent collection of silver, in addition to the 6,000 ozs. he would have been supplied with as an ambassador from Messrs. Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, as well as Van Dyck's famous Balbi Children, now in the National Gallery.
William Noel-Hill, later 3rd Baron Berwick, did succeed in buying back nineteen family portraits and pictures. He was also a considerable connoisseur in his own right, assembling a very large collection of his own whilst serving as Ambassador to the Court of Sardinia and Turin (between 1808-24) and to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (between 1824-33). During the course of his twenty-five years in Italy, William Noel Hill amassed a large collection of Paintings, Books and Furniture, some possibly made for Napoleon's sister, Caroline Murat, whose palace in Naples was subsequently occupied by Hill. He also acquired a magnificent collection of silver, in addition to the 6,000 ozs. he would have been supplied with as an ambassador from Messrs. Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, as well as Van Dyck's famous Balbi Children, now in the National Gallery.