Lord Burlington, the architect and owner of Chiswick House, was known as the ‘Apollo of the Arts’. He was one of 18th-century Britain’s greatest patrons and art collectors. He filled his villa at Chiswick with paintings that were hung so densely as almost to obscure the velvet wall hangings.
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A selection of his original collection can still be seen at Chiswick House today, alongside complementary paintings, family portraits and painted views of the house and garden. The painting above is by Pieter Andreas Rysbrack c.1729.
This view of Chiswick House and gardens was commissioned by the house’s owner and architect, Lord Burlington, not long after his new villa was completed. It provides a glimpse of the old house, a Jacobean mansion that was demolished in 1788. The painting is part of a larger set that may once have hung at one of Burlington’s other houses as a reminder of Chiswick when he was away.
Purchased 2007, with assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation), the London Historic House Museums Trust, the Chiswick House Friends and private individuals..
See English Heritage: Chiswick House Collection Highlights.
See also Chiswick House & Gardens Trust: History & Culture.