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Description: | Oil on canvas. Luxborough House in Essex was built in 1722 for Robert Knight, Cashier of the South Sea Company. After the company collapsed, the house was seized and later bought by Sir Joseph Eyles, before being bought back by Knight in 1740. After Knight’s death in 1744, his son was created Baron Luxborough and Earl of Catherlough. However, by 1770 the house was the seat of Sir Edward Walpole (son of former Prime Minister Sir Robert), who later sold it to Edward Peach. In 1782 Luxborough House was bought by Lady Ruth Hughes, wife of naval officer Sir Edward Hughes (c.1720-1794). Sir Edward died in the house in 1794.
This work was painted in 1800, the same year that Luxborough House was demolished. A note in the ‘Ipswich Journal’ on 26 July 1800 confirms that the house had by then been sold ‘in piecemeal’, raising ‘about ten per cent above its original cost in building’. It seems likely that this painting was commissioned by Lady Hughes or a member of her family just before the house was destroyed, as a record of the building. Lady Hughes died in September that year.
Two engraved views of Luxborough, published during Sir Edward and Lady Hughes’ occupancy in 1788 and 1795, are in the Guildhall Library collection, London. | Subjects: | lawn house gate fence urn topography tree country house/mansion sheep pillar dog garden wall | Temporal: | 1800 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | Theodore de Bruyn | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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