A large number of Drapers and guests were treated to a private tour of the House at Weston Park. Gareth Williams (Curator and Head of Learning) shared his encyclopaedic knowledge of Weston and its contents with his attentive audience. The tour was followed by a delicious lunch and a viewing of the outstanding Tapestry exhibition in the Granary Gallery.
Weston Park
In the dining room.
A quite different look for our Master, Brian Newman!
And a rather stylish appearance of our future Master, Gaynor Bowen-Davies!
Taking a well-deserved break in the library!
Gaynor looking lovely.
Burse of the Great Seal
The Great Seal was the silver matrix that was used with wax on official documents to mark the King’s approval, or the Royal Assent. The Seal was traditionally carried in procession before the Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Seal in a burse, or purse, originally of white leather or linen. The Weston Park example was used by Lord Keeper Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Bt., and has the crowned royal cipher and the letters ‘CR’ (Carolus Rex) for King Charles II. It is amongst the earliest remaining known examples of such a ceremonial burse and its likeness appears in a portrait of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Baronet, (1608-1674) by Pieter Borselaer which is also held by the Weston Park Foundation. Sir Orlando was the Keeper of the Great Seal of England to Charles II from 1667 to 1672. When he resigned office, the ceremonial bag – or burse – and the seal itself was given to him.
Stubbs, Two Horses
This masterful depiction of two horses communing in a landscape is believed to have been originally commissioned as an overmantle picture, which would have been framed above a chimneypiece. Commissioned from the artist by Sir Henry Bridgeman, it is the work of George Stubbs, the greatest of Britain’s equestrian artists, whose understanding of anatomy stemmed from the dissection of horses. It is the finest of Weston Park’s sporting art collection.
The Gobelins Tapestries in the Tapestry Room
Weston Park’s Gobelins Tapestries which fill one of the ground floor rooms of the house, creating almost a fantasy tented effect, were acquired by Sir Henry Bridgeman, 5th Bt., (1725-1800), having been woven between 1766 and 1771.
One of the stunning tapestries in the three month exhibition of contemporary tapestry artists from Ireland and Scotland being held in the Granary Gallery.
Exhibiting Artists:
Ireland: Frances Crowe, Mary Cuthbert, Terry Dunne, Angela Forte
Scotland: Joan Baxter, John Brennan, Clare Coyle, Elizabeth Radcliffe
Another of the stunning tapestries in the three month exhibition of contemporary tapestry artists from Ireland and Scotland.
The exhibition consists of around forty one-off hand-woven tapestries of all sizes – from miniature to massive and all designed on a large range of themes. The tapestries have been made over the past four years by the eight participating professional tapestry artists – four from Ireland and four from Scotland.