1 LISS1002 The English Country House: A Social History ... - API

LISS1002 The English Country House: A Social History
Module Outline
International Summer School 2012
Module Description
Country houses are one of Britain‟s greatest contributions to world culture, but who created them
and why? Have they always functioned as „containers‟ for art collections or have they had deeper
meanings and a wider social impact? Using Yorkshire‟s world-class country houses as case
studies, this course will introduce you to:-
The builders of the country house
The rise and fall of the great estates
The „upstairs‟ lives of the men, women and children who lived in the country house
and the „downstairs‟ world of the men and women who served them
The idea of a „court style‟ and its regional variations
The often difficult relationship between patron and architect
The allied arts of interior design and decoration
The relationship between the aristocratic great house, the more modest
gentleman‟s house and the villa
Assessment
Portfolio
Submission date: 13 July 2012
If the portfolio is submitted late without permission from the Course Leader, it will lose 5 marks for each working day
after the deadline. Works handed in two weeks late will fail.
Contact Hours: 2 X 90 minutes classes per day + 3 site visits
Teaching Methods: Lectures, seminar discussions, visits
Module Leader: Dr Kerry Bristol, Room 204 Old Mining Building, k.a.c.bristol@leeds.ac.uk
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Provisional Timetable
Monday 2 nd July 9:30-11:00 - Landowners and land-based wealth
Questions to consider:
How did the pattern of land ownership change c.1550-1950?
What has been the changing role of land-based wealth in British political and economic life?
How is the concept of landownership represented within the country house?
Recommended Reading:
Christopher Christie, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1999), pp. 4-25.
Suggested Reading:
David Cannadine, „The Landowner as Millionaire‟, in Aspects of Aristocracy (New Haven
and London: Yale University Press, 1994).
G.E. Mingay, English Landed Society in the Eighteenth Century (London: Routledge and
Paul, 1963).
F.M.L. Thompson, English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century (London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1963).
Monday 2 nd July 11:30-1:00 - The Builders of the Country House
Questions to consider:
What motivated the building (or rebuilding) of country houses?
How was the supply of money, labour and materials managed?
Recommended Reading:
Malcolm Airs, The Tudor and Jacobean Country House: a building history (Stroud: Alan
Sutton, 1995), pp. 3-22.
Suggested Reading:
Charles Samaurez Smith, The Building of Castle Howard (London: Pimlico, 1997)
John Summerson, „The Classical Country House in 18th-century England‟, in The
Unromantic Castle (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990), pp. 79-120.
Richard Wilson and Alan Mackley, Creating Paradise. The Building of the English Country
House 1660-1880, 2000.
Tuesday 3 rd July 9:30-11:00 - The Idea of the Architect
Questions to consider:
When is it legitimate to use the word „architect‟ when speaking of country house builders?
How does the concept of abstract design relate to the emergence of the architect?
Recommended Reading:
H.M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 4th edn (New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 15-37.
Suggested Reading:
Richard Wilson and Alan Mackley, Creating Paradise. The Building of the English Country
House 1660-1880 (London: Hambledon and London, 2000) pp. 109-144.
John Wilton-Ely, „The Rise of the Professional Architect in England‟, in The Architect.
Chapters in the History of the Profession, ed. by Spiro Kostof (New York: Oxford
University Press,1977), pp. 180-208.
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Tuesday 3 rd July 11:30-1:00 – Country House Planning
Questions to consider:
What can we learn about a building from its plan?
What were the different functions of spaces and what role did they play in defining gender and
class?
Which spaces were public, which were private, and how/when did boundaries change?
Recommended Reading:
Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1978), pp. 120-162
Suggested Reading:
Jill Franklin, The Gentleman’s Country House and its Plan (London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1981).
Alice T. Friedman, „Architecture, Authority, and the Female Gaze: Planning and
Representation in the Early Modern Country House‟, Assemblage, 18, 1992, 41-61.
Wednesday 4 th July 9:30-11:00 – The Villa
Questions to consider:
What were the social functions of the villa?
What cultural associations informed the villa - taste, antiquarianism, wealth?
Recommended Reading:
James Ackerman, The Villa: Form, Function and Ideology (London: Thames and Hudson,
1990), pp. 9-34
Suggested Reading:
The Georgian Villa, ed. by Dana Arnold (Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1996)
Wednesday 4 th July 11:30-1:00 – Women
Questions to consider:
What role did women play in the social and economic life of the country house?
Recommended Reading:
Dana Arnold, „Defining Femininity: Women and the Country House‟, in Dana Arnold, The
Georgian Country House. Architecture, Landscape and Society (Stroud: Sutton, 1998),
pp. 79-99.
Suggested Reading:
Lloyd Bonfield, „Marriage Settlements and the “Rise of Great Estates” the Demographic
Aspect‟,
Economic History Review, Vol. XXII (2nd series), 1979, 483-493.
Christopher Clay, „Marriage, Inheritance and the Rise of Large Estates in England 1660-
1815‟,
Economic History Review, Vol.XXI (2nd series), 1968, 503-518.
J.T. Cliffe, The World of the Country House in Seventeenth-Century England (New
Haven: Yale
University Press, 1999), chapter 4.
Judith L. Lewis, „When a House is Not a Home: Elite English Women and the Eighteenth-
Century Country House‟, Journal of British Studies, 48:2 (April 2009), 336-363.
Trevor Lummis and Jan Marsh, The Woman’s Domain (London: Viking, 1990).
Wednesday 4 th July 2:00-6:00 - Visit to Temple Newsam House
Thursday 5 th July 9:30-11:00 – Servants
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Questions to consider:
Can the life of domestic servants be seen only as a reminder of the patriarchal and feudalistic
values that dominated the social structure of the country house?
Recommended Reading:
Christina Hardyment, Behind the Scenes. Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses
(London: National Trust, 1997, pp. 13-27.
Suggested Reading:
J.T. Cliffe, The World of the Country House in Seventeenth-Century England (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), chapter 6.
Pamela Sambrook, Keeping their place: domestic service in the country house, 1700-
1920 (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2005).
Thursday 5 th July 11:30-1:00 - Eating and Drinking
Questions to consider:
What social rituals revolved around food and drink?
What role did breweries play in the social and economic life of the country house?
Recommended Reading:
Pamela Sambrook and Peter Brears, The Country House Kitchen 1650-1900 (Stroud:
Alan Sutton, 1996), pp. 11-29.
Suggested Reading:
The Country House Kitchen Garden 1600-1950, ed. by C. Anne Wilson (London:
Sutton Publishing, in association with National Trust Enterprises, 1998).
Friday 6 th July – Module Field Trip to Castle Howard
Monday 9 th July 9:30-11:00 – Brotherton Library Special Collections
Monday 9 th July 11:30-1:00 - Collecting and the Stuart Court
Questions to consider:
How widespread was art collecting in the seventeenth century?
Why were paintings and sculpture collected and by whom?
Recommended Reading:
Jonathan Brown, Kings & Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century Europe
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1995), pp. 10-57.
Suggested Reading:
Rosalys Coope, „The Long Gallery; Its Origins, Development, Use and Decoration‟,
Architectural History, 1986, 43-84.
Alastair Laing and Nino Strachey, „The Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale‟s pictures at
Ham House‟, Apollo, May 1994, 10-19.
Catharine MacLeod and Julia Marciari Alexander, Painted Ladies. Women at the Court of
Charles II (London and New Haven: National Portrait Gallery and Yale Center for British
Art, 2002).
Tuesday 10 th July 9:30-11:00 – Collecting in the Eighteenth Century
Questions to consider:
Who was/were the intended audience(s)?
How were works of art displayed?
What is the place of portraiture?
What is the role of past art?
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Recommended Reading:
Deborah Cherry, and Jennifer Harris, „Eighteenth-century Portraiture and the
Seventeenth-century Past‟, Art History, 1982, 287-309.
Suggested Reading:
Gainsborough, ed. by Michael Rosenthal and Martin Myrone (London: Tate Gallery,
2002).
Andrew Moore and Larissa Dukelskaya, A Capital Collection: Houghton Hall and the
Hermitage (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002).
Ian Pears, The Discovery of Painting: the growth of interest in the arts in England 1680-
1768
(London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988).
Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity, ed. by Martin Postle (London: Tate
Publishing, 2005).
Kate Retford, The Art of Domestic Life: Family Portraiture in England, c.1740-90 (London
and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006).
Tuesday 10 th July 2:30-4:00 – The Grand Tour [please note the change of time]
Questions to consider:
What was the Grand Tour? Who went on it and why?
In what ways did interest in antiquity help shape aesthetic attitudes in the eighteenth century?
Recommended Reading:
Brinsley Ford, „The Grand Tour‟, Apollo, December 1981, 390-400.
Suggested Reading:
Edgar Peters Bowron, Pompeo Batoni (1708-87) and His British Patrons (London: Greater
London Council, 1982).
Edgar Peters Bowron, and Joseph J. Rishel (eds.), Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century
(Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000).
Edgar Peters Bowron, and Peter Björn Kerber, Pompeo Batoni. Prince of Painters in
Eighteenth-Century Rome (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007).
Jeremy Black, The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century (Stroud:
Alan Sutton, 1992).
Drawing from the Past. William Weddell and the Transformation of Newby Hall (Leeds:
Leeds Museums and Galleries (City Art Gallery) in association with the West Yorkshire
Archive Service, 2004).
Grand Tour. The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth Century, ed. by Andrew Wilton and Ilaria
Bignamini (London: Tate Gallery, 1996).
Steffi Roettgen, Anton Raphael Mengs 1728-1779 and his British Patrons (London: A.
Zwemmer Ltd., in association with English Heritage, 1993).
Wednesday 11 th July 9:30-11:00 – Nineteenth Century Collectors and Dealers
Questions to consider:
Who collected art and objects? Why did they buy them?
How did the emergence of the „art professional‟ influence collecting practices?
Recommended Reading:
Oliver Garnett, „ “Sold Christie‟s. Bought Agnew”. The art collection of Lord Armstrong at
Cragside‟, Apollo, April 1993, 253-258
Suggested Reading:
Clive Wainwright, The Romantic Interior (New Haven & London: Yale, 1989).
William Buchanan and the 19th century art trade, ed. by Hugh Brigstocke (London: Paul
Mellon Foundation, 1982).
Wednesday 11 th July 12:00-4:00 – Visit to Harewood House, West Yorkshire
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Thursday 12 th July 9:30-11:00 - The End of the Country House? 1
Questions to consider:
Was the first half of the twentieth century one of „doom and gloom‟ for the aristocracy?
Why were country houses demolished?
Recommended Reading:
David Littlejohn, The Fate of the English Country House (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1997), pp. 3-56.
Suggested Reading:
John Harris, No Voice from the Hall (London: John Murray, 1998).
Peter Mandler, The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1997), pp. 21-221, 311-354.
Giles Worsley, England’s Lost Houses from the Archives of Country Life (London: Aurum
Press, 2002), pp. 7-24.
Thursday 12 th July 11:30-1:00 - The End of the Country House? 2
Questions to consider:
Whose history was displayed in country houses after the war?
How do modern heritage organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage
present the country house today? Do these differ from the presentation methods of private
owners?
In what ways do you think country houses and their contents should be displayed?
Recommended Reading:
Contemporary Cultures of Display, ed. by Emma Barker (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1999), pp. 200-228.
Suggested Reading:
John Cornforth, The inspiration of the past: country house taste in the twentieth century
(Harmondsworth: Viking in association with Country Life, 1985), pp. 143-221.
Adrian Tinniswood, The Polite Tourist. A History of Country House Visiting (London: The
National
Trust, 1998), pp. 181-209.
Friday 13 th : Visit to Oxford (all modules)
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