Technical Case Study
Decorated Glass
In 1753 Walpole wrote, "I have carpenters to direct, plasterers to hurry, papermen to scold, and glaziers to help: this last is my greatest pleasure: I have amassed such quantities of painted glass, that every window in my castle will be illuminated with it: the adjusting and disposing it is vast amusement."
His collection remained intact until 1842 when the windows were put up for auction as part of the ‘Great Sale’ by the Earl of Waldegrave. Although the contents of the gothic mansion were dispersed at the sale very little of the architectural glass was actually removed. With the repair of the house and renewal of the interior decorative schemes by Lady Waldegrave, 1855 to 1861, Thomas Baillie & Co. was commissioned to renew the decorative settings. Baillie’s work dismantled and partially re-used the C18 decorative settings and redistributed the decorative roundels through the house to compensate in part for the minor losses at the 1842 sale and to acknowledge the new use of the rooms. At this time, additional roundels from Walpole’s collection which were surplus to Baillie’s rearrangement were sold out of the house.
Horace Walpole assembled a large collection of over 450 pieces of stained glass at Strawberry Hill and was regarded as one of England’s first collectors. He glazed the upper parts of his windows with imported painted glass much of which was Netherlandish roundels. He also included heraldic blazons representing the achievements of his family as well as of other great English families linked with the succession of the Tudor kingship. Both types of decorative glass in the collection were represented by antiquarian examples as well as new commissions from English glaziers, such as William Price the Younger and William Peckitt, who were reviving what was considered at that time a lost art.
The present arrangement of the glass represents a sequence of alteration and reduction of Walpole’s arrangement. Some was damaged and lost during the war, other pieces were removed for their own protection and other decorative glass was dispersed to compensate for the loss. The survey of the glass is essential as it will impact on the re-presentation of all areas of the house both discrete rooms and external elevations.
The glass survey was carried out in two parts: condition and historical surveys. The first priority of the condition survey was to form a complete photographic record of the glazing as it is at present. Condition was assessed for each bay or segment of the decorative glazing with traced overlays over scaled photographs. A written assessment of the condition was also made. This process facilitates the recording of all defects, both written and illustrated, so that an overall assessment of condition is made on an individual basis. Emergency repairs were carried out to hold important settings until the main works begin. The assessment process will assist the formulation of a repair strategy based upon condition.
The historical survey was written in tandem with the condition survey by Inskip & Jenkins in collaboration with Dr Michael Peover. The historical study analysed the sequence of arrangements of decorative roundels for each window. The historical report will be illustrated with a photomontage to represent successive schemes.