The Collection at Chatsworth

Chatsworth has one of Europe's finest private art collections, built up by successive generations of the Cavendish family over nearly five centuries, and still growing today. The collection encompasses 4000 years of art and craftsmanship, from ancient Classical sculpture to modern work by Lucian Freud Sean Scully and Edmund de Waal.

Many of the finest paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles and decorative objects are on view to visitors in the rooms that you see

It includes objects as diverse as Royal thrones, a giant ancient Greek marble foot, a lace cravat carved from wood, Dutch flower vases, the titanium fan of a Rolls Royce jet engine, a Victorian painting of a poodle pretending to be a judge in court and a clock made of Russian malachite - all objects of wonder and delight.

The titanium fan of a Rolls Royce jet engine

Every year works of art from Chatsworth, including books and drawings which are too light-sensitive to put out on general display, are lent to temporary exhibitions around the world, so you will not always see the same things on every visit. Chatsworth is a home and not a museum. Ideas on the display of the Collection change and objects and pictures are moved from time to time. Walking round Chatsworth offers a rich cultural experience; room guides, guidebooks and new audio guide for adults and children, all help to explain the evolution of the Collection and the rooms it furnishes.

‘ Chatsworth; its situation; its garden; its palatial appearance; its works of art; its ducal atmosphere. All these are incomparable. ’

Nigel Nicolson, Great Houses of Britain, 1978