The Dream of Horace
| Browse information by: Location Makers General Information Classification Object Parts Object Condition History References Photographs |  Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright for Photograph: Creative Commons |
Location
| Street: | Church Street / A283 |
| Town: | Petworth |
| Parish: | Petworth |
| Council: | Chichester District Council |
| County: | West Sussex |
| Postcode: | GU28 |
| Location on Google Map | |
| Object setting: | Inside building |
| Access is: | Public |
| Location note: | Petworth House, The North Gallery, Central Corridor |
| In the AZ book: | West Sussex |
| Page: | 61 |
| Grid reference: | N9 |
| The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks. | |
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Makers
| Name : | Sir Richard Westmacott |
| Role: | Sculptor |
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General Information
| Commissioned by: | George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) |
| Construction period: | 1823 |
| Installation date: | 1823 |
| Work is: | Extant |
| Owner custodian: | The National Trust (Petworth House) |
| Description: | Complex white marble sculptural relief set in a heavy, deep, wood and gilt frame. The three figures of a semi-naked Venus, helmeted Minerva and Apollo, with a lute, arch over the reclining and sleeping figure of a naked young boy. The boy is surrounded by a bear, doves and serpents. |
| Iconographical description: | Taken from Horace’s Ode to Calliope (the Muse of Epic Poetry), Odes iii, 4, it depicts a sleeping boy protected by Venus, Minerva and Apollo against wild animals. Thus protected, writes the poet, he need not fear the distant barbarians, even ‘the cruel race of Britain’. The face of Venus (far left) was taken from ‘the mistress of some man about in society’, perhaps the 3rd Earl. |
| Signatures: | Carved catalogue number on base '111' |
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Classification
| Categories: | Sculptural, Animal |
| Object type1: | Sculpture |
| Object type2: | Relief |
| Subject type1: | Figurative |
| Subject subtype1: | Group |
| Subject type2: | Mythological |
| Subject subtype1: | Reclining |
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Object Parts
| Part 1: | Frame |
| Material: | Wood and gilt |
| Height (cm): | 160 |
| Width (cm): | 210 |
| Depth (cm): | 30 |
| Part 2: | Relief |
| Material: | White marble |
| Height (cm): | 138 |
| Width (cm): | 185 |
| Depth (cm): | 20 |
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Object Condition
| Overall condition: | Good |
| Risk assessment: | No known risk |
| Condition 1 of type: | Structural |
| Condition 1: | Broken or missing parts |
| More details: | Right thumb missing on relief of Minerva. |
| Date of on-site inspection: | 27/06/2008 |
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History
| History: | The North Gallery is one of the very few top-lit sculpture and picture galleries to survive from the early nineteenth century. It was extensively restored in 1991-3. The South corridor is the earliest part of the gallery, which was built between 1754 and 1763 to house the major part of the 2nd. Earl’s collection of antiques statuary. The top-lit Central Corridor was added to the gallery by the 3rd. Earl in 1824-5. At the same time work began on the final extension to the gallery, the Square Bay and the whole was finished in October 1827. The works were supervised by Thomas Upton, the Petworth Clerk of Works, and executed by his building yard. Advice was sought from at least three artists; the painter Thomas Philips and the sculptors Sir Francis Chantrey and John Edward Carew. The galleries are presently painted a dark red, restored to this colour during the 1991-3 restorations. The galleries had been this colour in 1873. Red (with green, the most traditional colour for picture galleries) was felt by Ruskin to accentuate the contours of sculpture, and it was known to have been used in ancient Rome as a foil to sculpture. The present sculpture arrangement (devised in 1991-3) was designed to restore, as far as possible that conceived by the 3rd. Earl. It was taken from a unique ground plan of the 3rd. Earl’s statue deployment drawn up in 1835 by H.W. Philips. Apart from the Flaxman, the Square Bay has become a gallery of works by the Irish sculptor J.E. Carew, many of which were placed here in 1835.
Exhibited at the Academy in 1823, just after completion, and subsequently installed in its present position within a blocked-up window. The subject of Westmacott’s relief is unusual, and was chosen by the 3rd Earl of Egremont. The piece was inspired by Horace's 'Ode to Calliope'. Westmacott personally installed it in the wall at the west end of the North Gallery. Nicknamed 'Westmacotteles' by Egremont because of his addiction to all things Greek, he was a regular visitor to Petworth in the 1820s, and probably advised his host on matters of display, given his reponsibility for the presentation of sculpture at the British Museum. |
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References
| Source 1 : | |
| Title: | 'Petworth House' |
| Type: | Book |
| Author: | Rowell, Christopher |
| Publisher: | The National Trust. |
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Photographs
Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |  Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |
 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |  Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |
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