ENGLISH SCHOOL

c.1650s

Holker / Cavendish portrait

oil on canvas

30 x 25 inches

Price: Sold

This splendid portrait from the 1650s comes from the Cavendish family collection at Holker Hall in Cumbria. The Cavendish Collection is one of the most historic and most significant private collections in the country and is housed in the key residences of the family, including Chatsworth and Holker.

The first Holker Hall was built in the early 16th century by George Preston, passing by marriage soon after into the Cavendish family. The Jacobean house was altered in the 1780s by John Carr of York, and it was largely rebuilt in 1838–41 for the 7th Duke of Devonshire by George Webster of Kendal in Jacobean Revival style. In 1859–61 the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley carried out some minor alterations. In 1871 the front (west) wing of the house was almost completely destroyed by fire.

The fire destroyed the entire west wing, including numerous paintings, pieces of furniture, statues, portraits and valuable books. Undaunted by this catastrophe, William Cavendish, the 7th Duke of Devonshire, began plans to rebuild the west wing on an even grander scale and employed the architects Paley and Austin of Lancaster. Built in red sandstone, it was described by Pevsner at the best Elizabethan Gothic in the north of England.

The present portrait therefore comes not only from a noble and highly important collection, but is also a rare survivor of Holker's lively and sometimes tragic history.