Museum Exhibitions | October
What to see this month
Philip Mould & Company's exhibition recommendations.
Compton Verney has unveiled a new display dedicated to the Grantchester Miniatures Collection. The display includes over forty miniatures from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries by portrait miniature masters such as Isaac Oliver, John Smart, Richard Cosway, and George Engleheart.
The Grantchester Collection was developed by the late Lady Grantchester (1925-2019), the sister of Compton Verney founder Sir Peter Moores, and was gifted to Compton Verney in 2019.
Our miniatures consultant Emma Rutherford assisted in the bequest: “It is always incredibly exciting to be involved in a new bequest of portrait miniatures, especially a collection such as the 70 miniatures from the estate of the late Dowager Lady Grantchester. The collection contains some rarities and mysteries, as well as excellent examples of the works by the most successful artists. There is even a portrait by the gifted Sarah Biffin, born without arms or legs (now known as the condition phocomelia) in 1784 and shortly to be the subject of an exhibition here at the Philip Mould Gallery.”
Where: Compton Verney, Warwickshire.
When: from 10 September until 31 December 2022.
Tickets: £17, tickets available online.
This month, the first ever exhibition dedicated to Lucian Freud’s paintings of plants and gardens will be opening at the Garden Museum.
Freud’s love of the natural world began from an early age as a pupil of artist-plantsman Cedric Morris. Freud was a student at Benton End between 1939 and 1940, where Morris lived and founded the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing. Following the sensibility of his tutor, Freud developed a fascination for the individual character of the plants he painted.
We are delighted to see our etching of a thistle as part of the display, which has been identified by leading wildflower conservation charity Plantlife as a Prickly Sow-thistle. As an interesting choice of plant breed to depict, this spiky flowering plant will bring the psychological tension of Freud’s portraits into this plant focused exhibition.
"We are thrilled to be borrowing Freud’s etching from Philip Mould & Co. Freud painted thistles numerous times throughout his career. The one represented in this detailed etching is a sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus). He liked the architectural linearity of the plant’s form, which resonated with his stylistic approach at the time."
-Emma House, Garden Museum Curator
Where: The Garden Museum, London.
When: From 14 October 2022 to 5 March 2023.
Tickets: £14, tickets available online.
The two ‘Beauties’ by Michael Dahl which the National Trust was able to restore with the support of Philip Mould & Company are now on display at Petworth House.
The display highlights the extensive conservation work that was undertaken to restore the legs of the two beauties, which George O’Brien Wyndham, the 3rd Earl of Egremont ordered to be cut off. The sitters’ legs had been folded over the reverse of the canvas stretcher to make way for some new artworks celebrating the Battle of Waterloo, in which the Earl’s sons had served.
Thanks to the ambitious conservation project carried out by the National Trust, the two portraits are currently displayed in their glorious, original full-length format in the ‘Beauty Room’ of Petworth House until 30 October.
Where: Petworth House, West Sussex.
When: Until 30 October 2022.
Tickets: £16
