Lot Essay
The present picture can be dated to circa 1720. The rebuilding of the main block of the house, in white stone in the centre, was completed between 1716 and 1720 by Philip Wharton (1698-1731), 6th Lord Wharton, who was created Duke of Wharton in 1718. The red brick Orangery, linking the the new house and the Servants' Wing and Stable Block on the left, was built between 1680 and 1700, by Philip, 4th Lord Wharton (1613-1696). The Wharton family had acquired by marriage the old house and estate shortly after 1642 from the Goodwin family and the Service Block on the left would appear to date from after the ownership of Sir Francis Goodwin who had built a house on this site before 1634. The magnificent gardens 'a cynosure of the Dutch taste in gardening' (J. Harris, op. cit., p. 140) were laid out at some point between 1690 and 1715 by Thomas, 5th Lord Wharton (1648-1715). His father, Philip, 4th Lord Wharton a zealous supporter of William of Orange (King William III) had carried out extensive alterations in the Dutch taste to the garden and building at his preferred seat Woburn in the period between 1680 and his death in 1696. In 1718 Stephen Switzer describes the elaborate design of the garden at Winchendon with its topiary being designed to mirror the building:
'and by means of Eugh [yew] and other tonsile Greens, to imitate the Elevation thereof, in Columns, Pilasters, Niches Etc. And this I remember to have seen something of at Winchendon'. [Ichnographia rustica, 1718, II, p. 221]. The large Orangery was celebrated by contemporaries for its fine collection of orange trees and is reminiscent of the Orangery at Kensington Palace.
Philip, 4th Lord Wharton (1613-1696), a Parliamentarian who had fought at the Battle of Edgehill against Prince Rupert in 1642, had formed one of the largest collections of works by Van Dyck and Lely outside the Royal Collection much of which is now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, and the National Gallery, Washington D.C. He married as his second wife in 1637 Jane, daughter and co-heiress of Arthur Goodwin of Winchendon and Wooburn. It is said he spent #100,000 on the house and gardens at his principal seat of Woburn.
Thomas, 5th Lord Wharton (1648-1715) married Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. One of the great Whig grandees at the Courts of King William III and Queen Anne he was regarded as 'brave in his person but much of a libertine'. An inscription discovered on a surviving beam in the old Servants' Wing at Winchendon reads:
'May the Good Lord shorten
the life of Lord Wharton
And give us his son in his stead,
For he drinks and he whores,
And obey no laws,
And he never goes sober to bed'
He served as Lord Lieutenant in Ireland 1708-10 with Joseph Addison the essayist and founder of The Spectator as his Chief Secretary. In 1715, the year of his death, he was created Marquess of Wharton. He was succeeded by his seventeen year old son Philip who was raised to the Dukedom of Wharton in 1718 in recognition of his late father's status at Court.
Philip, who had inherited vast estates in England and Ireland, lacked the political and financial wisdom of his father and grandfather. In 1721 he sat as President of the notorious 'Hell-Fire Club'. The previous year he lost #20,000 in the South Seas Bubble and it would seem to have been about this time that he halted the elaborate works at Winchendon, where contemporaries described the stables as having a gilded ceiling. In 1723 he sold his estates in Ireland for #62,000. In 1725, with his debts believed to have been #70,000, he sold the house and estate at Winchendon to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, widow of the military hero, for an equivalent sum. The 'Hell-Fire' Duke left England in 1725 as an ambassador for the new King James II. His wife died in 1726 while he was in Madrid, his son and heir Thomas had died in 1719. The Duke spent his remaining years in Spain. In 1730, the year before he died, he sold his estates in Westmorland to Robert Lowther for #26,000.
There is no evidence that the Marlboroughs occupied Winchendon after their purchase of it in 1725. Charles, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, had the white nine-bay house and Orangery demolished in 1758, selling to Mr. John Russell for the sum of #1,400 'all the materials of the building...in and about the gardens...except the stables...and walls standing between the kitchen and the green house'. Marlborough also disposed of all the remaining pictures and garden statuary to Russell which were included in the purchase price.
'and by means of Eugh [yew] and other tonsile Greens, to imitate the Elevation thereof, in Columns, Pilasters, Niches Etc. And this I remember to have seen something of at Winchendon'. [Ichnographia rustica, 1718, II, p. 221]. The large Orangery was celebrated by contemporaries for its fine collection of orange trees and is reminiscent of the Orangery at Kensington Palace.
Philip, 4th Lord Wharton (1613-1696), a Parliamentarian who had fought at the Battle of Edgehill against Prince Rupert in 1642, had formed one of the largest collections of works by Van Dyck and Lely outside the Royal Collection much of which is now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, and the National Gallery, Washington D.C. He married as his second wife in 1637 Jane, daughter and co-heiress of Arthur Goodwin of Winchendon and Wooburn. It is said he spent #100,000 on the house and gardens at his principal seat of Woburn.
Thomas, 5th Lord Wharton (1648-1715) married Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. One of the great Whig grandees at the Courts of King William III and Queen Anne he was regarded as 'brave in his person but much of a libertine'. An inscription discovered on a surviving beam in the old Servants' Wing at Winchendon reads:
'May the Good Lord shorten
the life of Lord Wharton
And give us his son in his stead,
For he drinks and he whores,
And obey no laws,
And he never goes sober to bed'
He served as Lord Lieutenant in Ireland 1708-10 with Joseph Addison the essayist and founder of The Spectator as his Chief Secretary. In 1715, the year of his death, he was created Marquess of Wharton. He was succeeded by his seventeen year old son Philip who was raised to the Dukedom of Wharton in 1718 in recognition of his late father's status at Court.
Philip, who had inherited vast estates in England and Ireland, lacked the political and financial wisdom of his father and grandfather. In 1721 he sat as President of the notorious 'Hell-Fire Club'. The previous year he lost #20,000 in the South Seas Bubble and it would seem to have been about this time that he halted the elaborate works at Winchendon, where contemporaries described the stables as having a gilded ceiling. In 1723 he sold his estates in Ireland for #62,000. In 1725, with his debts believed to have been #70,000, he sold the house and estate at Winchendon to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, widow of the military hero, for an equivalent sum. The 'Hell-Fire' Duke left England in 1725 as an ambassador for the new King James II. His wife died in 1726 while he was in Madrid, his son and heir Thomas had died in 1719. The Duke spent his remaining years in Spain. In 1730, the year before he died, he sold his estates in Westmorland to Robert Lowther for #26,000.
There is no evidence that the Marlboroughs occupied Winchendon after their purchase of it in 1725. Charles, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, had the white nine-bay house and Orangery demolished in 1758, selling to Mr. John Russell for the sum of #1,400 'all the materials of the building...in and about the gardens...except the stables...and walls standing between the kitchen and the green house'. Marlborough also disposed of all the remaining pictures and garden statuary to Russell which were included in the purchase price.