Sudley House
Encyclopedia
Aigburth
Aigburth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Dingle, Mossley Hill, and Garston.-History:...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
is an art gallery which contains the collection of George Holt
George Holt (Victorian Merchant)
George Holt was a Victorian ship owner and merchant. He lived at Sudley House in Liverpool. He founded the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, and is the namesake of the University of Liverpool's George Holt building, which currently houses the laboratories of the university's department of...
in its original setting. It includes work by Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
, Edwin Landseer, John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
and J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
.
Built in the early 19th century for Liverpool Mayor Nicholas Robinson, Sudley became the house of Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
ship owner and merchant George Holt in 1883. It was all bequeathed to the city in 1944 by Holt's daughter Emma Holt. It is now run by National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool, previously known as National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All museums and galleries in this group have free admission...
. After a period of two years of work, it was reopened on 26 May 2007 following a £1 million refurbishment including many new attractions.
These recent additions to Sudley House are:
Introductory display: the Holt family – George and Elizabeth Holt and daughter Emma from 1884 to 1944. Set in the ground floor library, the display includes an introductory film, family portraits and a model of the steamer Verdi, which belonged to Holt's Lamport & Holt company.
Two childhood rooms: how Victorian children learned and played. Exhibits include a huge Victorian dolls' house, educational toys, fashion dolls and pots used at mealtimes by rich and poor children.
Costume room: clothes worn by three daughters of Walter Holland, George Holt’s neighbour and business partner who lived at nearby Carnatic Hall. The clothes date from the 1880s to the 1920s and were bought in Bold Street, Liverpool, and Paris.
Temporary exhibition gallery: A Sweet Life – follows the lives of Emily and Philip Tinne and their seven children through Emily's extraordinary clothing collection acquired between 1910 and 1940 and a recently discovered collection of letters. The exhibition runs until Spring 2010.