Britain’s ancestral piles have had to move with the times. Nowadays it’s simply not enough to merely open up the state rooms. Today’s grand old houses have to offer something else to pull in the punters, and for the best of them that means focusing on fine art.
Our stately homes have always boasted a wonderful array of artworks, but they were often hard to find. Today these treasures are properly curated, and, increasingly, they’re supplemented by first class contemporary art. Our country seats are now go-to places to see today’s leading artists, rather than sleepy repositories for rusty armour and dusty antiques.
Seeing modern art in a stately home is far more fun than seeing it in a trendy gallery. The dramatic contrasts between old and new are arresting and intriguing. When these places were built, they were the latest thing, a forum for the leading artists of their own age, so it’s fitting that they should showcase contemporary art, alongside the Old Masters of yesteryear.
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
Built 300 years ago to reward the Duke of Marlborough for his victory in the Battle of Blenheim, this magnificent pile is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a rare and precious example of English baroque. Home of the Churchill family for several centuries, it was the birthplace of Winston Churchill and, given his love of art, it’s apt that it’s become an arena for some of the greatest artists of the modern age, from Georg Baselitz to Ai Weiwei.
This summer’s exhibition is more conventional, but none the worse for that – a display of paintings by Winston Churchill and Paul Maze, Churchill’s close friend and fellow painter, whom he befriended in the trenches during the First World War.
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
The seat of the Duke of Devonshire is one of the best places in the Midlands for fine art (where else can you see Rembrandt, Henry Moore, Edmund de Waal and Sean Scully, all under the same roof?) and this summer he’s mounting several excellent exhibitions.
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