عنوان

A history of the Leicester Family, Tabley House, and its collection of paintings

Number

TLets520715

Title Proper

A history of the Leicester Family, Tabley House, and its collection of paintings

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Chun, Dongho

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

The University of Manchester

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2000

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

The University of Manchester

Text preceding or following the note

2000

Text of Note

Sir John Fleming Leicester, first Baron de Tabley (1762-1827), was widelyacclaimed in the early nineteenth century as the first serious patron and collector ofcontemporary British art. In the words of his obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine,he was "the greatest patron of the native school of painting that our Island everpossessed". As Colonel of the Cheshire Yeomanry, he was also a member of one ofthe most ancient landed families in Cheshire. This thesis is a case study concernedwith the Leicesters' patronage of the visual arts with a particular emphasis on Sir JohnFleming Leicester. However, the thesis does not attempt to catalogue the Tableycollection in detail (this has been carried out by other scholars), nor is it aimed toeulogise the family and individual paintings in the collection. Instead, based onunpublished archival materials as well as on published sources, the present studyexamines the cultural politics of the family's patronage and collecting in order tolocate the reception of the visual arts in an internalised historical context. In otherwords, the purpose of the thesis is to critically investigate how the visual arts weresocially consumed by a traditional aristocratic landed family in relation firstly to theexternally conditioned historical contingencies- social, political, and economic- andsecondly to the question of human interventions- individual desires and dynasticambitions. In a word, this thesis argues for the indissolubility of specific historicalcircumstances and private human aspirations in appreciating the polemics of artpatronage and collecting.Structurally, the thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter chroniclesthe family history of the Leicesters down to Francis Leicester, who was the lastLeicester in the direct male line. A substantial use of probate inventories is made toillustrate the ways in which the collection of pictures was mobilised to display thepower, status, and wealth of the Leicesters. The second chapter interrogates TableyHouse both as an architectural entity and a symbolic power house within itseighteenth-century context. Contemporary images depicting Tabley are analysed witha view to uncovering ideological dimensions, personal and social, of seeminglytopographical paintings. Chapter three surveys the life of Sir John Leicester, the keyfigure in this thesis. However, it is not my intention to present a colourful biographyof him nor is the chapter intended to delve into his psyche per se. Rather, it is anexploration of representations of a man drawn from material remnants he left behind,especially his amateur paintings. The fourth chapter investigates Sir John Leicester'spatronage and collection of British art. Starting with an examination of Sir John'sscrapbooks, the cultural politics of collecting is critically interrogated in this chapter.Chapter five further examines what it meant to support British art in public and howsuch altruistic commitments were inseparably interlocked with Sir John's privateagenda. The polemics of his gallery of British art in London and his role in supportingart institutions are fully explored. The sixth and final chapter relates the saga of thesale of Sir John's collection after his death and charts concisely the fate of the familyand the house up to 1990.

Chun, Dongho

The University of Manchester

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y