Or, the art of British country house interiors

April 26, 2013

Wrotham Park: Part Two

This discussion of Wrotham Park is continued from Wrotham Part: Part One. The art collection of Wrotham Park was built up considerably from the late 18th to the mid-19th century, with works by old masters as well as leading painters of the day [1]. Portraits by van Dyck, Kneller, Reynolds, Lawrence, de Laszlo, and Sargent decorate the house, in particular the Staircase Hall. The staircase at Wrotham Park, visible in a number of period films, is quite simply marvelous. Through movie stills from Poirot: Series One, Episode Three (The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly), Jeeves and Wooster: Series One, Episode Four (The Hunger Strike), Series One, Episode Five (Brinkley Manor), Series Two, Episode Four (Jeeves in the Country)Series Two, Episode Five (Kidnapped!), Series Four, Episode Four (The Delayed Arrival); Gosford ParkDaniel Deronda, and Bridget Jones's Diary, we can better experience and appreciate the portrait covered walls.


The Staircase Hall at Wrotham Park functions as a kind of vertical long gallery; family portraits are hung on either side of the staircase, with a central tapestry that was part of the decoration of Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King George VI in 1937 [1]. These portraits provide insight into the family history of the owners of Wrotham Park, and also serve as a vivid, eye-catching backdrop for many movies. 


Stairs are crucial to the articulation of any country house, as the point of access to upper floors and an object of great ostentation in and of them self [2]. The traditional concept of a long gallery being used both as a place for indoor exercise and as a venue to display and view ancestral portraits can also be applied to the Wrotham Park staircase [3]. The hanging of portraits in a stairway effectively provides a family tree in pictorial form, to impress and inspire guests and family members alike [4]; in this way, Wrotham Park's Staircase Hall is truly exemplary in its display of portraiture.


Right staircase wall:
Poirot: Series One, Episode Three (The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly)

Jeeves and Wooster: Series Four, Episode Four (The Delayed Arrival)

Gosford Park

Gosford Park

Daniel Deronda


Daniel Deronda


Poirot: Series One, Episode Three (The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly)


Jeeves and Wooster: Series Two, Episode Five (Kidnapped!)


It is interesting to see how the portraits displayed in a space change from film to film. One typically does not expect long-held country house collections to be rearranged, but in fact, the acquisition of new works over time often results in an alteration in the hanging of the collection [5]. This is particularly true in looking at Wrotham Park's Staircase Hall; for example, the portrait of the contemplative-looking woman in the center of the staircase is present in many Jeeves and Wooster episodes from the 1990s, but does not appear in the 1989 episode of Poirot or in 2002's Daniel Deronda. It seems that this portrait has been added to replace the usual display of the central tapestry and grandfather clock; the reason for this, the changes back and forth over time, and the origins of this work are unclear.



Jeeves and Wooster: Series Four, Episode Four (The Delayed Arrival)

Jeeves and Wooster: Series One, Episode Four (The Hunger Strike)


Jeeves and Wooster: Series One, Episode Four (The Hunger Strike)

Gosford Park has a completely different treatment of the decoration at the center of the stairs. In the film, the historically important tapestry from the coronation of King George VI has been replaced with a less colorful nature-based hanging. This change is a decision made specifically for the filming of Gosford Park, as the original tapestry is back in place just a year later for the filming of Daniel Deronda. Perhaps those in charge of set design preferred a more subtle, beige look for the Staircase Hall for Gosford Park.


Gosford Park


Daniel Deronda


Jeeves and Wooster: Series One, Episode Four (The Hunger Strike)

Stairwell:
Daniel Deronda

Daniel Deronda was not exempt from making changes of the typical hanging of the paintings in the Staircase Hall at Wrotham Park, though. The portrait directly to the right of the door in the stairwell is usually of a woman dressed in pink and sitting in a white wicker chair. For the set of Daniel Deronda, however, in its place is a group portrait of a mother and daughter. This change is more easily understandable: this very 20th century-looking portrait is quite eye-catching, particularly due to its use of white in an area with predominantly dark-toned works. For a story that is set in the mid-19th century, such a portrait is obviously incongruous.


Jeeves and Wooster: Series Two, Episode Four (Jeeves in the Country)

Jeeves and Wooster: Series Two, Episode Four (Jeeves in the Country)

Bridget Jones's Diary


Gosford Park

Jeeves and Wooster: Series One, Episode Five (Brinkley Manor)


Bridget Jones's Diary


Jeeves and Wooster: Series Four, Episode Four (The Delayed Arrival)



Poirot: Series One, Episode Three (The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly)

The walls of the stairwell in Poirot: Series One, Episode Three (The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly) are oddly bare. Particularly around the entrance door, the usual paintings have been taken down. It might have been important to the set designers that Waverly Court be interpreted as a newer country house, perhaps belonging to recently landed gentry, still developing its art collection and not so inundated with family portraits.

Jeeves and Wooster: Series One, Episode Five (Brinkley Manor)

Jeeves and Wooster: Series Two, Episode Four (Jeeves in the Country)

The right side of Wrotham Park's stairwell is much less represented in film than the left side. Hugh Dancy, star of Daniel Deronda commented on his experience at Wrotham Park: "For a few days we were at Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire, where Robert Altman's Oscar-winning Gosford Park was filmed, and I realised they were only ever filming in one direction in the hallway - because on the other side of the hall were paintings so famous that people would have realised they were from the wrong period" [6]. From the brief view of the right side of the hall in Gosford Park, it is clear that the works on that wall, particularly the striking portrait by Sargent, are more contemporary than the setting of these period pieces and therefore, much less frequently filmed. Clearly, the paintings on the walls of country houses factor significantly into filming choices, particularly when a movie's time period is such an important component to the plot.


 Gosford Park

Poirot: Series One, Episode Three (The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly)

Cora, Countess of Strafford- Sargent, 1899

Wrotham Park boasts an unparalleled country house art collection, and though it is not open to the public, it is gratifying to know that the owners allow so many period pieces to be filmed there. In this way, at least, the portraits displayed throughout the house can be enjoyed by a modern audience while still retaining their original setting and context. 

Bibliography:

[1] London Open House. “Wrotham Park and its History.” Accessed April 25, 2013. http://www.londonopenhouse.org/
               london/search/factsheet.asp?ftloh_id=8518.
[2] Gomme, A.H. Design and Plan in the Country House: from Castle Donjons to Palladian BoxesNew Haven: Yale 
                University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2008.
[3] Maroon, Fred J. The English Country House: a Tapestry of Ages. Charlottesville: Thomasson-Grant, 1987.
[4] Musson, Jeremy. How to Read a Country House. London: Ebury Press, 2005.
[5] Russell, Francis. “The Hanging and Display of Picutres 1700-1850.” In The Fashioning and Functioning of the 
                British Country House, edited by Gervase Jackson-Stops, 403. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989.
[6] Hall, Jane. “High drama as Mr Dancy fills Mr Darcy’s shoes.” icNewcastle, November 19, 2002. Accessed April 25, 
                2013. http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0300entertainment/onthebox/2002/11/19/high-drama-as-mr-dancy-
                fills-mr-darcy-s-shoes-50081-12374715.

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