Hello and welcome to Kingston Lacy, home of the Bankes family since 1663.
They made it their home after the destruction of Corfe Castle, and they filled it full to the brim with treasures.
The house as we see it today is largely the work of one of the Bankes' family's most charismatic members,
William John Bankes. Follow me as I take you on a tour of some of its most remarkable treasures.
So I've now entered the seclusion of the library from the light-filled loggia and grand marble staircase.
And you might think this is the natural place for a volume like this to be housed,
but in fact it's an extremely rare occasion that it's come out of its specially made bespoke box and it's on display.
It's an extremely rare and precious volume and it is believed to be
one of only two books that was saved from the library at Corfe Castle.
The book itself is notable really for its extraordinary binding. The maker of the binding
was a Frenchman called Jean de Planche. He was a Huguenot and he came to London
in the late 16th Century and worked at the court of Elizabeth the First until at least 1575
when he returned to France. The coat of arms in this beautifully elaborate oval frame belonged to
Sir Nicholas Bacon who was the Keeper of the Privy Seal at the court of Elizabeth the First.
This quite unassuming wooden panel with its abraded paintwork is in fact one of the
greatest treasures from Kingston Lacy. It was discovered in the attic in 1982 when the house
passed to the trust. When it was first made it was an absolutely glorious object. You have to imagine it
brightly coloured in greens, reds, purples, and heavily gilded. It formed part of the architecture
of the interiors of a church. And it was, we think, part of what is known as a rood screen.
Rood screens separated the nave of the church with the congregation from the altar.
I'm going to pass over to Tarnya Cooper who's going to tell you about some of her favourite paintings in the trust.
I'm looking at two of my favourite paintings here, and this is a room
which is just full of extraordinary objects, extraordinary paintings that could
very well be on the walls of the National Gallery or any real major museum; the Louvre or the Prado.
These two paintings, really enormous full-lengths, by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens
hang alongside key works by Jan Bruegel and Titian. And they are just startling. Really, really impressive.
I think they're two of my favourite pictures in the trust, because in this period in 1606 and 1607 respectively,
the artist Peter Paul Rubens is really astonishing in Europe. He is painting
like no other artist and he's an artist who's really sought after by all of the different courts,
the ducal courts and the royal courts of Europe including James the First.
And we're going to look at two pictures. Here the first is probably we don't know that much about who the sitter is,
but probably a woman who is the wife of a banker called Palvincino. She's seated here in
this really, really remarkable costume with a huge, huge great ruff around her neck and a feather in her hair.
It's almost painting as theatre. You've got extraordinary lighting and you've got a sense
of a woman who is almost at the height of her charms. She's being presented here to an audience.
So both these pictures were purchased by William John Bankes for Kingston Lacy
in 1840 on one of his many trips to Italy.
This one behind me is a full-length portrait of another woman we don't know that much about either.
But it may be the Mulcaiser Maria Grimaldi. It's a rather complicated picture but I think
an extraordinarily beautiful one. It feels like lots of different things are happening at once
in this extraordinary picture. You have got a young woman seated almost on a throne-like chair.
She's wearing a very, very elaborate dress of black and gold, and again an enormous, enormous ruff
that just frames her face and almost lights up her face. You've got a kind of foil to the likeness of her face.
So this is a really interesting time in terms of painting in Europe in the early 17th Century.
So no longer do you have artists who are craftsmen and workmen, but very much individuals
whose talent is requested all across Europe by both ducal courts and royal courts.
And Rubens is absolutely at the top of his game during this period.
Thank you for joining me at Kingston Lacy today.
It's only with your continued support that we can carry on looking after special places like this.