The Paintings of Astley Hall
It is my privilege to act as a volunteer room steward in the Long Gallery at Astley Hall which is not only a wonderful survivor of an Elizabethan Manor House but also houses a wonderful collection of paintings gathered by the families that lived there.
The art website www.artuk.org depicts most of the collection of paintings held at the Hall including many which are in storage or undergoing conservation.
Delving a little into Art History we can discover more about some of the paintings that hang in the public rooms of the Hall.
One the west wall of the Great Hall is the painting of King CharlesI with his wife, Henrietta Maria and their children Prince Charles (later Charles II) and Princess Mary. Princess Mary was married to William, Prince of Orange, at the age of 9 in1641 when he was 14. Her only child, born in 1650, became William III of England.
Some doubt has been cast on the parentage of Charles II, rumours amongst the couriers at the time pointed the finger at Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, who was responsible of the development of the St James Square area of London. He spoke fluent French and was a constant companion of Henrietta; there can be no doubt that he had loved her since accompanying Henry Rich, Viscount Kensington, on the embassy to Paris seeking her hand in marriage for Charles I.
The painting is attributed to Henry Stone, (1616-1653) eldest son of the appropriately named sculptor Nicholas Stone.
It is a copy of a painting by Anthony van Dyke, a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens, and was his first commission for Charles I, painted in 1632; it was originally known as ‘The Great Peece’. The original painting was sold after Charles I was executed outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall on Monday, 30th January 1649. The Regicide was ordered by 50 Parliamentarian Commissioners after a decision by the Rump Parliament in defiance of the law of the land.
The original painting, recovered after the Restoration, is now owned by the Royal Collection Trust and hangs in the Queens Gallery at Windsor Castle, it can be viewed from this link.
Henrietta Maria was the daughter of Maria de’ Medici and Henry VI, King of France. Her grandfather was Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1635 Henrietta completed the work on what is now known as Queen's House at Greenwich which was started by Anne of Denmark, her husband’s mother.
Hung on the same wall is a portrait of Sir Peter Brooke (c. 1602 – 1685) who was an English politician who sat in the House of
Sir Peter Brooke, then of Mere Hall, Cheshire was knighted on 24 July 1660.
He was High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1669 and then High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1673 after his younger son Richard married Margaret Charnock, heiress of Astley Hall.
Sir Peter occupied Astley Hall and was responsible for much of the development of the house.
At the top of the magnificent staircase hangs the full length portrait of an unknown man in the long robes of either a lawyer or clergyman. In the gloom at the top left of the painting are the words
A.D. 1682
ÆTATIS SUÆ 70
(At his age of 70)
The book on the table bears the title “The Whole Duty of Man” which was a High Church ‘Protestant’ devotional work published in 1658. The title is taken from Ecclesiastes 12:13 in the King James Version of the Bible.
There have been many suggestions as to his identity, including those made in the notes of Thomas Townley Parker, however none of them have, so far, been proven.
Astley Hall will re-open to visitors on completion of the major conservation project to remove the stucco rending and reveal the beauty of the original house hopefully by the Spring of 2022.
In a future post we will take a closer look at the paintings in the dining room including the painting of Lady Susanna de Hoghton, granddaughter of Sir Peter Brooke. Susanna married Sir Philip Henry de Hoghton after the death of her first husband.
An illustrated talk is available about Astley Hall, its park and its people. Send an enquiry through the contact form.
You can support the work of the Friends of Astley Hall by making a donation
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Text Astley 1 to 70085 to donate £1
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