Online Edition Wednesday, August 18, 2004
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Treasure troveGreat art from one of England's great homes at PEMBy Alan Burke Staff writer
SALEM -- They are collectors in the Cavendish family. But it's not the sort of collection found at your local garage sale. For one thing, this family has been at it for a very long time -- about five centuries. And they've had the money to do it right, a fortune earned through royal land holdings and shrewd investments, like shares in the East India Co. Of equal importance, generation after generation has consistently collected with a keen eye for beauty, filling a grand home, Chatsworth, including more than 100 rooms, with treasure. "They collected with a zeal," notes Dan Monroe, director of the Peabody Essex Museum. "Some of these things were collected to read," adds curator William Sargent. "Or to use -- like ice buckets. And some were collected as works of art." A stunning sampling of all will go on display from Saturday, Aug. 14 to Sunday, Nov. 7 at the museum's presentation of "Treasures From Chatsworth, A British Noble House." It includes the works of masters like Rembrandt, handmade books from the Middle Ages, gleaming jewels, massive gold and silver containers, early scientific instruments, sculpture, furniture and even Henry VIII's oversized, carved wooden rosary beads. Today, sections of Chatsworth are open to the public, says Sargent. But some of what's on display in Salem is customarily locked away in the private quarters of the Duke of Devonshire. The only thing that ties all these wonders together is the family. Thus, the exhibit is organized chronologically, with information offered on each generation. Matriarch Elizabeth of Shrewsbury (1527-1608) built Chatsworth after amassing a fortune through a series of well-timed marriages. At the insistence of Queen Elizabeth I, her great home played a reluctant host to the captive Mary Queen of Scots. Shrewsbury and Mary quarreled and did needlework together. An amazing letter from Elizabeth Rex, on display at the PEM, urges everyone to get along. Later, the queen decided, in one fell swoop, to relieve Shrewsbury of her headache and Mary of her head. Although their home was deliberately set up away from cosmopolitan London, famous people flit in and out of the story of Cavendishes. Georgiana Spencer (1757-1806), who became the Beautiful Duchess, is an ancestor of the late Princess Diana. She was also one corner of a scandalous love triangle involving the Duke and the married Lady Elizabeth Foster. The latter would become duchess after Georgiana's death. Meanwhile, Georgiana's beauty is caught for all time in a famously unfinished Sir Joshua Reynolds painting featured in the exhibit. Nearby is a spectacular jewelry set created by her son, the sixth Duke, who "did not want his wife outshone on a trip to Russia," according to Sargent. The jewels include a tiara, stomacher, bracelets, headbands, necklaces, all in glittering gold, graced with gleaming gem stones and diamonds. During World War II, Kathleen Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy, married William Cavendish, who would have become Duke had he not been killed in action a short time later. She died too, after the war, in a plane crash. The 11th Duke, who died recently, had his portrait painted by artist Lucien Freud, son of the famed psychiatrist. In the mid-20th century, British socialism began to take its toll on great houses and great families. Some of Chatsworth's treasures had to be sold off or turned over to the government. One of the family's three Rembrandts was taken by the National Trust. It was the 11th Duke and his wife, Deborah Mitford - one of the famous, even notorious Mitford sisters (Nancy was a writer and supporter of leftist causes, Diana was rumored to be Hitler's lover) - who began working to restore the home to its former glory. One method for this was investing in racehorses, including the fabulously successful Park Top. The home's art collection grew and it includes a bronze of the mare, now on display at the PEM. Opening their home to the public has been an adjustment for the family, Sargent says. He recounts the time the Duchess overheard a group passing her in the hall. "That's the Duchess before she died," someone whispered. The family has had some disappointments -- what was long assumed to be a Da Vinci drawing turns out to be the work of one of Leonardo's students. "You often collect something as one thing," Sargent explains, "and then you find out it's something else." And in a twist that would have pleased Elizabeth of Shrewsbury -- who had her house put to use by the queen -- the government took a closer look at the Rembrandt taken from Chatsworth. It was a fake.
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