Christie's celebrates the history and contents of one of England's most beautiful houses. A selection of works of art, not part of its historic property are to be sold at Christie's in June. The first view of Longleat is unforgettable, whether from Heaven's Gate with the great house melting into the landscape itself, or down the avenue to the main façade of the house from the Horningsham Gate. Few houses stand so well and are in such perfect sympathy with the English countryside. The position of the present house was fixed, less by accident, more by design, many years ago by the Black Canons. These monks had been at Longleat for 200 years prior to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site was probably originally chosen on account of the stream, or 'leat', that gave the house its name. No pictorial record exists of the original monastic buildings bought, for 56 guineas, by Sir John Thynne in 1540; it seems probable, however, that the outbuildings clearly visible in Jan Siberechts' view of the house in 1676 were part of these. If its position is perfect, the house itself matches it. There is a harmony about Longleat which is unique. At present, architectural historians tend to give the credit to Robert Smythson as the architect of the house, although this theory may shortly be debunked. It would seem fairly obvious, if for no other reason than the amount of work that must have gone into planning and realizing such an intricate design, that Sir John Thynne would have employed an architect - however, he sent a highly detailed ground plan of the house in his own hand to his friend William Cecil, Lord Burghley. The plan still exists at Burghley, proving that with no letters after his name John Thynne knew his stuff as an architect and that, whoever helped him give birth to his house, it was Thynne himself who conceived it. Beautiful though Longleat is, it has a certain melancholic sleeping beauty quality. While it is not covered with brambles and briar roses, it is not obviously a treasure house either. Perhaps because so much attention is given to the lions and the hippos in the park, the visitor is surprised to find that Longleat contains supreme works of art, and a library to rival the greatest in the land. The first surprise is the majestic front hall with its series of incomparable hunting scenes by John Wootton. A staircase hung with first-class family portraits and corridors leads, on both the ground and first floors, to a series of spectacular state rooms. The lovely Titian Holy Family may have been stolen - not for ever, the optimist in me says - but the Italian paintings which still remain in the State Drawing Room, put together by the 4th Marquess after an extended Grand Tour, include a Tintoretto which represented the house at the Treasure Houses of Great Britain exhibition in Washington in 1985, and a masterpiece by Francesco Granacci. The Small Dining Room contains a particularly interesting run of family portraits: the 1st Marquess by Lawrence; the 2nd by Hoppner; the 4th, a marvelous high Victorian portrait by Richmond; the 5th, a masterpiece by Orpen; and the 6th, another by the sadly underrated Graham Sutherland. In the room next door is a series of extraordinarily sensitive portraits by a local artist called William Salisbury, of whom absolutely nothing is known, and by whom nothing else exists. In another part of the house, no less remarkable and still awaiting the certain acclaim that many feel has been too long withheld, are murals by the 7th Marquess. My colleague Charles Cator writes more fully in this edition of Christie's Magazine on the furniture of Longleat. Suffice it for me to say that the house contains the sort of pieces which one hopes to find, and so seldom does, in many a French château. These include masterpieces from Boulle himself, through BVRB to later ébènistes like Reisener and RVLC; and great furniture, too, from England, from the spectacular shove-ha'penny table in the Hall to the magnificent, huge and absolutely plain library desk in the Bishop Ken Library at the very top of the house. Given the passion for all things Italian that was central to the 4th Marquess's life, it is not surprising that Longleat also contains a rich and varied collection of Italian furniture. Germany, Holland and Sweden are also represented. Adding interest to the furniture, and exceptional in their own right, are a group of no less than six white Meissen figures by Kaendler; as well as a first-class collection of French porcelain; and a small but exquisite collection of the finest English silver, in particular works by that most delicate of Huguenot silversmiths, Paul Crespin, and a tortoise-shell and silver punchbowl, the most beautiful piece of mounted silver to be found in any house in England. All this and 40,000 volumes of books, housed in the seven libraries throughout the house, are an expression of all that is best of England's artistic heritage. What is quite wonderful is that it has been possible to remove £20 million's worth of works of art from Longleat, which will form the basis on 13 and 14 June of one of the most important sales held at Christie's since the Second World War, and yet still leave the collection visibly intact, the rooms almost unchanged, all the major pictures in place, and the ambience of this beautiful house unaltered. Lord Hindlip is Chairman of Christie's. Back to top  |  Back to article list