Town and Country: The Formation of Two Great Eighteenth-Century Collections

The Centre is organising this conference to examine the growth of collecting and the display of Old Master paintings and antiquities from early to mid-eighteenth century England. The conference coincides wilh the exhibition Painting, Passion and Politics: Masterpieces from the Walpole Collection, on loan from the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (running until 23rd February at the Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House), and the publication of A Capital Collection: Houghton Hall and the Hermitage, edited by Larissa Dukclskaya, Curator of English Prints at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg and Andrew Moore, Keeper of Art, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. The conference will concentrate primarily on the two great Norfolk collections at Houghton and Holkham as case studies, although the roles of other important patrons, such as Sir Andrew Fountaine of Narford and the lst Duke of Chandos of Cannons, will also be examined.