The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 29 June 1816
June 29, 1816.
I am much obliged to M. de
Constant for the civil things he said of me, which are in a great
degree unmerited. But I am provoked that he will write nothing about Napoleon, or at least nothing worth reading. He
always appeared to me timid and indecisive, and I never expected much, but after
having informed me that his work was in the press, and desired me to provide him
immediately with a translator, it is really inconceivable that the publication
should be entirely withheld. His novel, “Adolphe,”
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which is just published, has its admirers, but for a man
of great literary reputation, appears to me to be an absolute failure.
On Thursday Warburton and
I went to Mr. Hope’s, where we were
gratified by some of the pictures and vases, and particularly by the fine room
called the library. But the furniture, notwithstanding all the care bestowed on it,
is, with some few exceptions, in a bad, massive, and ponderous taste, and entirely
opposed to the true principles of Grecian elegance. We were much better pleased
yesterday with the collection of pictures at Grosvenor House, and regretted that
you and Mrs. Smith were not with us. It is
inferior only (if at all) to Lord
Stafford’s gallery, and in some respects is more pleasing.
There are beautiful works of Claude,
Caspar Poussin, Guido, Titian,
Cuyp, and especially of Rembrandt, besides two landscapes of
Titian and Domenichino of considerable merit and still greater rarity.
Claude Lorrain (1600-1682)
French painter whose idealized landscapes were much admired in Britain.
Benjamin Constant (1767-1830)
French political theorist and novelist; author of
Adolphe
(1816).
Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691)
The son of the painter Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, he was the leader of the Dutch school of
landscape painting.
Domenichino (1581-1641)
Italian painter of the Bolognese school.
George Granville Leveson- Gower, first duke of Sutherland (1758-1833)
The son of the first marquess of Stafford (d. 1803); he was one of the wealthiest men in
Britain with an annual income of £200,000; his program for Scottish clearances and
resettlement was widely unpopular. He was created duke in 1833.
Thomas Hope (1769-1831)
Art collector and connoisseur, the son of a wealthy Amsterdam merchant and author of the
novel
Anastasius (1819) which some thought to be a work by Byron.
His literary executor was William Harness.
Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821)
Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his
abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St.
Helena (1815).
Gaspard Poussin (1615-1675)
French landscape painter who influenced the British school; originally Dughet, he adopted
the name of his better-known brother-in-law, Nicholas Poussin.
Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Dutch painter and etcher.
Guido Reni (1575-1642)
Of Bologna; Italian baroque painter.
Elizabeth Smith [née Chandler] (1767 c.-1859)
The daughter of Richard Chandler of Gloucester and wife of Thomas Smith of Easton Grey in
Wiltshire; she was a Unitarian and friend of John Whishart.
Titian (1487 c.-1576)
Venetian painter celebrated for his portraits.
Henry Warburton [Eliot Warburton] (1784-1858)
Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Radical MP for Bridport in
Dorset (1826-41) who took an interest in bodysnatching.
