The Return of Patronage: Bringing Artists Back into Historic Houses
For centuries, historic houses across Britain - and the wider continent - acted as the crowning canvas for artistic creations. Now, it’s easy to view the rich assemblages of these estates as simply galleries; collections on display. But this is not the true, historic spirit of these spaces.
Great houses were the industrial engine to many forms of artistic production: Think constant commissions of portraits, sculptures, and even musical compositions, each worked upon within estate walls.
The partnership between estate custodians and artists has deep historical roots, forming and developing over time. During the Italian Renaissance, the infamous Medici family helped give rise to a certain Michelangelo, whilst the Este family used their court to establish Ferrara as a vibrant cosmopolitan hub. Over in England, visits to great estates like Chatsworth offer the perfect chance to mark the quantity of portraits commissioned by the aristocracy, inviting artists to become familiar confidants to such houses.
In this sense, an exchange existed between artist and house that far surpassed a paycheck. Patronage was a way of life, both fostered by and fostering an understanding of mutual value.
Until, it wasn’t.
The 19th century brought the expeditious industrial revolution, and with it, metropolitan cities became the stars of the show. In turn, the artist-house connection was forgotten.
Instead, the ‘white cube gallery’ model dominated into and throughout the 20th century. With this came a liberation of sorts: art freed from aristocratic commission, from decorative function, from the weight of place. But something was also severed. The discourse between a work and its setting, and the unique impact one has on the other.
At HeritageXplore, we’re seeking to rebuild that bridge. In collaboration with The Dot Project, we’re reviving this tradition through our Artists-in-Residence programme, which commences for the second year with the residency of Dominic McHenry at Eastnor Castle, Gloucestershire, this June.
Across the period of a month, artists will live and work within a historic house, free to immerse themselves and their art amongst living history and, ultimately, producing a new piece of work. Within this setting, we can gain a renewed perception of how context impacts art, and vice versa, in the modern world. This experience allows the generative encounter between art and setting to transform into something more tangible.
The House: Eastnor Castle
Dramatic in its Norman Revival style and set amongst the Malvern Hills, Eastnor Castle is a romantic vision in and of itself. Built in the early 19th century by Robert Smirke - architect of the British Museum - the castle has passed through generations of the Somers-Cocks family, accumulating layer upon layer of history, artefact and story. It boasts a canvas of detailed stonework, vaulted ceilings and dense interior texture. It is not a neutral space; it has opinions, and it knows them.
The Artist: Dominic McHenry
The artist called to hear those opinions is Dominic McHenry. With his work particularly focused on geometric forms and the precise, ordered logic of repeating patterns, it’s certainly a conversation you want to be a fly on the wall for. Recently, McHenry has been working on a series of paintings using classical techniques, situated within intentional hand-made frames. Eastnor’s centuries-old imperfections offer prime grounding to bring the stark precisions of McHenry’s work into acute relief.
Let geometry meet textured history in an allegiance of fidelity. This is not art placed in a building. It is art in conversation with one.
On the 21st and 22nd of June, we’re inviting you to experience the residency first-hand, as it winds its way towards its concluding leg. You’ll meander through the castle’s rooms, being welcomed into this reawakened conversation as you observe McHenry’s sculptures and paintings amongst the architecture.
Be a part of this enlivened encounter with us by booking your tickets below.
Places are limited. Tickets are available via HeritageXplore. https://www.heritagexplore.com/events/artist-in-residence-dominic-mchenry-at-eastnor-castle/
Seen by some as old, irrelevant relics nowadays, historic houses are anything but - and where artistic creation is concerned, they do have a few hundred years experience to call upon. For contemporary artists, they offer something that the gallery cannot: the weight and time of history, and the sense that your work is somewhere, not just anywhere.
