Thursday, January 166:30pm EST Virtual Screening
Join the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) for the public premiere of the six-episode series Chatsworth Through Time, produced in partnership with the Duke of Devonshire and the Chatsworth House Trust, exploring the history, architecture, landscape, and collections of Chatsworth House. Beginning in the Tudor Period and progressing through five hundred years of history all the way to the 21st century, this series explores the world of Chatsworth, with its own curators, Alice Martin, Head of the Devonshire Collection, and Dr. Alex Hodby, Senior Curator of Programme, as our guides.
Episode Four: Collecting and Reshaping looks at how the house and the land surrounding it have changed and adapted over the centuries to reflect new political developments, social realities, and changing styles. The curators examine artwork by Thomas Smith, James Paine, and Jeffry Wyatville for clues about how Chatsworth has evolved over the centuries, and they also discuss how the landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown began the shift away from formal gardens to the rolling parklands familiar to the estate’s visitors today.
Episode Five: The 6th Duke follows the life and works of William George Spencer Cavendish, son of Lady Georgiana, who took on the grandest building projects of the estate in the 19th century. He collaborated with the architect Jeffry Wyatville as well as Joseph Paxton, who became head gardener at Chatsworth and later designed the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition in London. In addition to the meticulous documentation of his renovations at Chatsworth, the 6th Duke is also notable for his travel journals and for serving as the ambassador at the coronation of Czar Nicholas I in Moscow in 1826.
Episode Six: The 20th and 21st Centuries takes a radically different approach to the history of Chatsworth in the form of an extensive interview with the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The 12th Duke of Devonshire reminisces about his parents who rescued Chatsworth from the brink of ruin after the Second World War. He and the Duchess then discuss the Masterplan, their remarkably ambitious renovation project and capital campaign from the early 2000s that conserved the stonework and statuary, renovated the roof and utilities, and preserved the estate for the twenty-first century. The Duke and Duchess are also notable for commissioning modern artworks and temporary installations in the gardens at Chatsworth, which drew praise and ire alike from critics and longtime visitors, and sparked a resurgence of attendance. Finally, the series concludes with a special message from Jane Marriott, the Director of the Chatsworth House Trust, in which she lays out the Trust’s plans to preserve Chatsworth and its collections well into the future.
The ICAA is very grateful to Chadsworth Incorporated and Lisa Fine Textiles for their generous support of this program.
This program was made possible by
The Estate of Christopher H. Browne & The Orville Gordon Browne Foundation
Lead Annual Public Programs Sponsor: RINCK
Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Dell Mitchell Architects
Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Hyde Park Mouldings