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Artist
Studio of GERTRUDE JEKYLL (worked from c.1860)
ROYAL SCHOOL OF NEEDLEWORK (founded 1872)
Country of Origin
England
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Dated
1875
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Dimensions
76.00inch wide
94.50inch high
(193.04 cm wide 240.03 cm high)
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Provenance
The Grosvenors first came to England with William the Conqueror, the name then being Gros Veneur. In 1675 Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies who was to inherit 500 acres of rural land on the outskirts of London. As London grew, this property laid the foundation of the family’s vast fortune, as it was developed into Mayfair, Belgravia and Pimlico. While Pimlico has since been sold, the family still owns many properties in Mayfair and Belgravia. Around 500 roads, squares and buildings bear their family names and titles. The family’s main country seat is Eaton Hall, where these silk works were originally.
Eaton Hall is set within a large park in the village of Eccleston near Chester, Cheshire and has belonged to the Grosvenor family since the 1440’s when Raufe Grosvenor married Joan of Eton, heiress of the estate. Being rebuilt several times, the first Eaton Hall was erected in 1675-1682 after a design by William Samwell, who sadly did not live to see it completed. However, Eaton Hall was later attributed as a work of Sir John Vanbrugh.
In the early nineteenth century the house was completely reconstructed according to the gothic style which was very much in fashion at the time. It was doubled in size, but some of the old basement and walls were retained. Then, in 1870, the house was rebuilt again to achieve a more Victorian style of gothic architecture. This project, commissioned by the 1st Duke of Westminster, was one the most expensive plans for an English country house in history, said to have cost circa £600,000 which reflects the enormous wealth of the Grosvenor family. The new construction was extremely irregular and asymmetrical, but the original Vanbrugh house was still apparent in the centre of the facade of the main block. A 183 feet high clock tower slightly resembling Big Ben was also erected, with its 28 bells playing “There is no place like home” whenever the Duke arrived at the house. Like the contemporary Waddesdon Manor, to which Eaton Hall’s exterior bears resemblance, it was intended for entertaining on a great scale.
It was during the major building works of the new hall that the 3rd Marquess, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, was created a Duke by Queen Victoria for his philanthropy work. This dukedom was the last created for a person who was neither a closely linked to the royal family nor already a duke. The building of forty-eight farm houses, 360 cottages, eight schools, seven village halls and three churches on the Eaton Hall estate is a definite proof of his charitable character.
Although Alfred Waterhouse’s design (he is also the architect of London’s Natural History Museum) is now considered to have been a masterpiece of Victorian gothic, the house was demolished by the family trustees in 1963; with the chapel, bell tower and stable block the only parts being spared. Even though the Grosvenors were affluent it was not sustainable to keep a house with 150 guest rooms, and it was decided by the trustees that the 6th Duke, then only a boy, would never want to live there. However, a new house by architect John Dennys, the 5th Duke’s brother-in-law, was built in a modern style circa 1970, unfortunately failing to attract either architecture critics or visitors. Therefore, yet another Eaton Hall was built in the 1990’s, this time in the style of French classicism and it is used by the current Duke and his family.
These impressive and highly decorative silk work panels were probably sold in one of Eaton Hall’s contents sales prior to the demolition of the house; there were several of them held between 1955 and 1961.
It is known that the Eaton Hall needlework hangings were designed by Gertrude Jekyll, commissioned by the Duke of Westminster and made by the Royal School of Needlework circa 1875.
The hangings feature in the Eaton Hall inventory made for the Duke of Westminster in 1885. There is no record of them after 1910 at Eaton Hall and no further records of them elsewhere are known. They were not taken to Grosvenor House in London (demolished 1926).
Literature
This information has been revealed by Dr Lynn Hulse, Archivist at the Royal School of Needlework and Eileen Simpson, Archivist at Eaton Hall. Dr Hulse will be writing an article about the hangings for the 'Textile Journal'.
Description / Expertise
A magnificent set of late 19th century silk embroidered hangings commissioned by the Duke of Westminster for the Great Drawing Room at Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Each panel incorporating the emblem of the Grosvenor Family - the wheat sheaf, with foliate floss silk arabesques on a formal grand scale. At the top is incorporated a stitched 'VR' surmounted by a crown. This presumably stands for Queen Victoria and suggests that the panels were created during her reign. This may be substantiated by the photograph of them in situ at Eaton Hall in 1887.
