Chatsworth, Arcadia, Now : Seven Scenes from the Life of a House

'This glamorous, artistic book is a fitting tribute to a decade of renovation... One could say that the book is a collection piece in its own right... Breathtaking still-life studies underline the connections and contrasts between old and new... The sense of a great house with a vibrant past, present and a future is palpable' - Country Life

A fascinating portrait of the interiors of one of England's grandest country houses 

No house embodies the spirit of one dynasty better than Chatsworth. Set in an unspoilt Derbyshire valley, surrounded by wild moorland, and home to the Cavendish family for sixteen generations, this treasure house is filled with works of art and objects - from Nicolas Poussin's The Arcadian Shepherds and Antonio Canova's Endymion to great contemporary paintings by Lucian Freud and David Hockney - which have all, in their time, represented the very best of the new. 

Chatsworth, Arcadia, Now: Seven Scenes from the Life of a House celebrates the completion of a campaign of restoration that was begun by the 12th Duke after he inherited the estate in 2004 and tells the story of this extraordinary place through seven scenes from its life, alongside a stunning photographic portrait of the house and its collections.

Anyone who cannot visit in person can now enjoy the house in this astonishing book, with its brilliant photographs cleverly staged and laid out. Gems and miniatures are shown against antique books from the library. Readers are taken behind the scenes to view dinner services, Old Master drawings, ancient cameos, a playing card signed by Lady Charlotte Boyle in the 1740s. Short essays by John-Paul Stonard provide context, but at heart this is a book of images as glorious as the house itself 

Details

• Author: John-Paul Stonard
• Hardcover: 416 pages | 400 colour illustrations
• Date published: October 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-0241461914
• Product Dimensions: 30.6 x 19.3 cm