Highlights

The works of art on view to visitors at Chatsworth are diverse in period, style and materials. Here is a small selection of objects that illustrates the wide range and exceptional quality of the collections you can see on a visit to the House.

Veiled Vestal
	The sculpture is by Raffaele Monti and is called the Veiled Vestal

The 6th Duke of Devonshire ordered the Veiled Vestal statue when he visited Raffaele Monti's Milan studio in October 1846. The statue, which is carved from three pieces of statuary marble, was delivered to England in the following year, most probably to the Duke's house at Chiswick, London. It came here as recently as 1999 from another property owned by the Duke at Eastbourne, in Sussex, England.

The realistic veil is the result of straightforward carving of the marble, making use of its translucency to achieve its effect.

Delft flower pyramid
	Delft flower pyramid, Adriaen Koeks, Dutch, 1690s

This 17th-century flower pyramid (commonly called a tulip vase) is made of earthenware, dipped in an opaque, white tin glaze then decorated in imitation of Chinese blue and white porcelain. It comprises a series of tiered, self-contained reservoirs with nozzles to hold cut flowers. These sit on a base painted with figures of the Virtues, probably derived from Netherlandish prints, and signed by the maker, Adriaen Koeks.

There are 11 Delft flower vases in the Devonshire Collection, dating from the 1690s in which period the 1st Duke of Devonshire probably acquired them. Made in the Dutch town of Delft, they were popularised in England by Queen Mary, who bought many examples for Hampton Court Palace.

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State Bed
	State Bed, circa 1700-10

This bed, made circa 1700-10, with contemporary pink and yellow silk damask hangings, is reputed to be the one in which King George II died in 1760. The 4th Duke of Devonshire would have received it as a perquisite (‘perk’) when Lord Chamberlain. However a monarch was not to use the State Bedroom at Chatsworth for over 200 years until King George V and Queen Mary stayed with the 9th Duke of Devonshire in 1913.

This is not the first state bed known at Chatsworth. The 1st Duke of Devonshire ordered an earlier bed from Lapiere in 1697. All that remains of the original bed today is the canopy, which can be seen in the Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall (once the property of the Dukes of Devonshire).

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Silver chandelier
	Silver chandelier, English or Dutch, circa. 1694

This ten-light chandelier, either English or Dutch in origin, may have been a gift from William III to the 1st Duke of Devonshire. Cherubs on each of the scroll branches hold a shield with an Earl’s coronet, yet at the top is a further cherub holding aloft a ducal coronet. Either the chandelier was made to commemorate Devonshire’s elevation to the dukedom in 1694, or it was already in production and the uppermost cherub was added after the others. Intended as a movable furnishing, its travelling case still exists at Chatsworth.

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Cravat
	Cravat , English, Grinling Gibbons 1648-1721

The lace on this cravat is so intricate that it is hard to believe it is carved from limewood. It is surrounded by a songbird, flowers, laurel leaves, peapods and a medallion on which is carved a portrait. This image may be of the maker, Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721), whose flamboyant woodcarving dominated late 17th century English interiors including Windsor Castle and Petworth.

The State Rooms and Chapel at Chatsworth are decorated with woodcarving in the style of Gibbons. Although the work is now accepted as having been undertaken by Samuel Watson, Joel Lobb and William Davis, the myth that Grinling Gibbons was responsible began as early as 1744. Despite the fact that Gibbons does not appear in any House accounts, by 1777 it was said that he had even fallen to his death from scaffolding at Chatsworth.

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Trial by Jury
	Trial by Jury, oil on canvas, 1840, Sir Edwin Landseer, 1803-1873

This celebrated picture was purchased by the 6th Duke of Devonshire and was completed by 1840. It is a humorous satire on the legal profession, painted at a time when pressure for overdue legal reform was strong. The poodle may represent Lord Lyndhurst, the Lord Chancellor, who here presides as judge. Other lawyers, court officials and jurors are represented by a variety of breeds of dogs. Landseer included the 6th Duke's own pet Blenheim spaniel ‘Bony’ in 1842 as a 'cub-reporter' to the left of the judge's chair.

Landseer began his career specialising in dogs and in this picture achieved a masterly tour de force. He appears to have started the painting after an eminent judge had remarked that the French poodle belonging to the artist’s friend Count d’Orsay “would make a capital Lord Chancellor”. Artist and patron were united in their love of dogs; Landseer painted several others of the duke’s dogs. The 6th Duke hung a sitting room at Chatsworth with pictures of his pet dogs at this time.

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