Holkham Hall

The collections

Paintings

Thomas Coke was an avid collector of art and had a passion for landscape painting. Holkham contains one of the greatest private collections of works by the celebrated French landscape artist Claude Lorrain, which are primarily displayed in the Landscape Room. He also collected works by Vanvitelli, Dughet, Rubens, Van Dyck, Carlo Maratta and many others amongst the most fashionable painters of his time, creating his idea of a perfect temple of the arts. Although later Earls added to the collection and moved pictures around to their taste, the 7th Earl recreated Thomas Coke’s original hang as far as possible.

The collections

Antiquities

Holkham contains one of the most important private collections of Roman statuary in the country. The collection was created by Thomas Coke, who acquired works dating from the 1st to the 3rd century AD. He designed the Statue Gallery specifically to display his collection, and it still contains iconic works such as Diana and Marsyas. Smaller works, such as portrait busts, are arranged around the house. The oldest item in the collection, an important mosaic from the 2nd century BC, however, was not acquired by Coke, but by his great nephew, Thomas William and can be found in the Long Library.

The collections

Neoclassical sculpture

Since the rediscovery of classical art during the Renaissance, collectors had acquired casts of original Roman sculpture. Thomas Coke purchased many plaster copies of statues seen on his Grand Tour, which are displayed in the Marble Hall, where they are carefully arranged into oppositional pairings.

Also found in the Marble Hall are four sculptural reliefs by British sculptors such as Francis Chantrey, Joseph Nollekens and Thomas Banks. These were collected by Coke’s great-nephew, Thomas William, who is known to have patronised many contemporary artists. They are arranged to convey political meaning, rather than the artistic taste of his ancestor.

The collections

Archives

The Archives at Holkham provide a written account into all of life across the Holkham Estate. Stretching back to the mighty Book of Conveyances  – used by Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice to record his land purchases to the account book that details all of Thomas Coke’s expenditures on his Grand Tour to records of tenants living and working on the estate over the last four centuries to the present day. To uncover the history of the Estate and its people there are in excess of 100,000 documents that can be consulted in the Archives Reading Room.

The collections

Furniture

The State Rooms contain much of Holkham’s original 18th-century furniture. Thomas Coke purchased from many of the most fashionable London makers – such as Paul Saunders and Benjamin Goodison – as well as using the talents of local craftsmen. The collection was acquired over a 20-year period and from numerous different makers. Despite this, all the furniture conforms to the same underlying idea, showing Coke’s excellent eye for design and creating one of the most complete Palladian interiors in the country. Highlights include the remarkable tables in the Saloon, topped with micro-mosaics said to come from the Villa Tivoli.

The collections

Library

The library (over 10,000 rare books and about 550 manuscripts) comprises the library of Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice, the vast collection that Thomas Coke purchased on his Grand Tour, and few important additions by subsequent generations. Medieval copies of Magna Carta with Statutes of England and illuminated Renaissance manuscripts (Livy in particular) stand aside precious 15th- 18th- century editions (Pliny, Tyndale, Palladio, Aesop, Piranesi) and the Cosmographia, a unique 113-volume series of maps of the heavens and the earth. Leonardo’s Codex Leicester (now Bill Gates) owes its name to the 1^st Earl of Leicester, who acquired it in 1717.

The collections

Textiles

Historically, textiles were used to create visual hierarchy, with the costliest fabrics reserved for the highest status rooms. Genoa velvet was the most expensive, followed by silk velvet, wool velvet and damask. As the most important room, the Green State Bedroom is upholstered with Genoa velvet from the 1750s. The South Dining Room retains both original silk velvet upholstery and wall coverings, whilst the Saloon, the first room in the visual sequence, is hung with 18th-century wool velvet, called caffoy. In 1982 the 7th Earl commissioned new silk damask wall coverings for the Landscape Room, replacing the degraded 18th-century hangings.

The collections

Tapestries

Tapestries were high status items often used in the 18th century to decorate bedrooms. The Green State Bedroom contains a wonderful series of late-17th century tapestries depicting three of the four continents; Thomas Coke commissioned English upholsterer Paul Saunders to complete the series in 1757. More English tapestries can be found throughout Strangers’ Wing, decorated with pastoral scenes made popular by the artist Antoine Watteau. Not to be outdone by her husband, Lady Margaret Coke purchased the tapestries which today hang in the North State Sitting Room, a series of 17th century Brussels tapestries illustrating the signs of the zodiac.