Other paintings in London Gallery

Chiswick House, Red Velvet Room ceiling J970259

CHISWICK HOUSE, London. Interior. View of the ceiling in the Red Velvet Room.
The ceiling is inset with painted panels attributed to William Kent and has usually been interpreted as an allegory of the Arts. The panels around the edge, for example, incorporate musical instruments, portrait roundels of gods and goddesses (Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars, Diana and Apollo) and their appropriate Zodiac signs. In the central panel the messenger god Mercury hovers above a stone arch, below which is a group of figures with further emblems of the visual arts: Architecture is represented by a bare-chested woman with a set square and a cherub with a plan of a Roman temple, Sculpture by a fallen bust of Inigo Jones, and Painting by a woman unveiling a self-portrait of Kent.
The radical alternative interpretation of this symbolism is that it alludes to the ritual of the Royal Arch masonic lodge. Red is the Royal Arch colour, so the red velvet on the walls is symbolic, as is the red drape which is being removed to reveal Kent's portrait in the ceiling. The traditional implements of the architect and sculptor, depicted in the ceiling, are likewise masonic emblems, while the combination of an arch below a rainbow which occurs in the ceiling painting was apparently a common subject of early Royal Arch lodge banners. The suggestion, therefore, is that this room could have been designed by Burlington and Kent - both of whom were certainly freemasons - to function as a masonic meeting place

© Jeremy Young

Charles I and Prince Charles J900213

MARBLE HILL HOUSE, Richmond-upon-Thames, Greater London. "King Charles I and Prince Charles" (later Charles II) after Sir Anthony VAN DYCK (1599-1641). Painting oil on canvas

© Historic England

Child Hood, Monarchy, Painting, Stuart

Leslie - Jeanie Deans Pleading with Queen Caroline J940116

MARBLE HILL HOUSE, Twickenham, Richmond, Middlesex. "Jeanie Deans Pleading with Queen Caroline... in the Presence of the Duke of Argyll and Lady Suffolk" by Charles Robert LESLIE (1794-1859). The painting depicts a scene from Sir Walter Scott's 1818 novel The Heart of Midlothian

© Historic England

Costume, Fashion, Painting