Karel Breydel (Antwerp 1678-1733)
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more THE ESTATE OF THE LATE LORD FARNHAM (lots 2 and 31) The scion of an ancient and distinguished Scottish family, Barry Maxwell, the late Lord Farnham, inherited and passionately loved one of the most beautiful estates in Ireland. In the 1850s James Fraser noted in the fourth edition of the handbook for travellers in Ireland 'the country around Cavan is singularly romantic. Fertile, round hills spring up on every side and the roads winding through the valleys give the whole a very pleasing rural character.' He laments that 'this beautiful and fine treat of country [is] cut up into small enclosures, without the least regard to ornamental appearance or profitable culture'. Farnham is one glorious exception... 'The trees around the house bespeak more care and length of years than we usually meet within our demesnes. The mansion is a plain commodious structure. Those who have seen Farnham only from the house or approaches know but little of its extent, variety and beauty. It branches out in many directions and embraces several of the little natural lakes which form so remarkable a feature in this district, from their number and the extent of surface which they occupy.' A new house was built at Farnham by John Maxwell soon after he acquired the estate; some 80 years later the 3rd Baron Farnham improved it and employed James Wyatt to build a library. Francis Johnston rebuilt the house from 1802 for the 4th Baron and the second and last Earl of Farnham building a house of two ranges at right angles. The range with the Doric portico incorporated Wyatt's library. In 1839 the house was enlarged and re-arranged by the 7th Baron who turned Wyatt's library into a dining room. Some 120 years later, the late Lord Farnham, having inherited a house badly infested with dry rot decided with his wife to demolish the eight bay range and to rebuild the portico on the side of the surviving (garden) range thus creating a residence of dimensions better suited to late twentieth-century requirements. Successive members of the family in the nineteenth century built up a significant collection of pictures, including Tintoretto's Last Supper (Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario) and Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Guercino's Saint John in the Wilderness Following Lord Farnham's death the estate was sold earlier this year and the present two lots are further to the sale of a proportion of the principal contents of Farnham as well as items from the London house held at Christie's, South Kensington, on 15 May 2002.
Karel Breydel (Antwerp 1678-1733)

A cavalry skirmish, a country house beyond; and A cavalry skirmish, a church beyond

Details
Karel Breydel (Antwerp 1678-1733)
A cavalry skirmish, a country house beyond; and A cavalry skirmish, a church beyond
both signed and dated 'C. Breydel 1712' (the first lower left, the second lower right)
oil on panel
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.6 cm.)
a pair (2)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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