George Granville Leveson-Gower & Art: The Cleveland House Collection

Description:The Sutherland Papers contain a huge number of catalogues and inventories relating to the interior design of the Leveson-Gower properties. Many of these documents relating to the first Duke’s estates include details about the paintings and prints which the Duke collected.

A catalogue of the art works displayed at Cleveland House featured above lists over two hundred and fifty paintings, providing details about the painters and their works.

Amongst the paintings collected by the Duke were many works by Italian masters from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These included Raphael’s ‘Virgin & Child’ and ‘Holy Family’, Caravagio’s ‘The passage of the red sea’, paintings by Carracci, such as ‘St John Sleeping’, Guilio Romano’s ‘Birth of Hercules’ and Guido Rheni’s ‘Head of a Madonna’.

In addition to these great Italian works the Duke also owned paintings by the English artist Turner ‘A Sea View’, and works by the Dutch masters such as Rembrant’s ‘Portrait of Rembrandt’, and Rubens' ‘Peace & War’. The Collection also included a number of works by Vandyck, including his ‘Virgin & Child’ and also his ‘Portrait of the Earl of Arundel’.

The Duke opened his gallery at Cleveland House to the public in 1806. The Catalogue of works at Cleveland is written in the form of a Gallery Guidebook, providing details about artists and their works. The Catalogue was printed in 1812, and informed visitors to the Gallery where the paintings had been purchased from.

Amongst the paintings by sixteenth century Italian painters was Nicolo del’Abbate’s ‘The Rape of Proserpine’. This painting is detailed as being ‘from the Orleans Gallery’. The catalogue provides a description of the painting’s subject, stating that ‘in this picture Proserpine is represented gathering flowers’ adding that she is ‘accompanied by Nymphs’. There is also a commentary provided, examining the painting. The commentary informs the visitor ‘there is a double representation of the subject. The first, when Proserpine is seized by Pluto; the second, where he is seen carrying her off in a chariot drawn by Bulls’. The commentary continues stating that ‘the Landscape is remarkable’.

Click on the images on the left to learn more about paintings in the Cleveland House Collection.