Date/Time
Date(s) - 22/10/1999
12:00 am
Location
Sutton Place
Categories
Sutton Place is one of the great English houses of the early Tudor period. Although it was altered in subsequent centuries, particularly in the late eighteenth century, the house still retains the character of a mansion of the English Renaissance style. The ancient manor of Sutton was granted by Henry VIII to one of his most loyal courtiers, Sir Richard Weston, in 1521. Sir Richard set about building a great house in the new, unfortified style with facades richly decorated with an abundance of terracotta ornament, then new to Britain and with great windows to let light and air into its spacious interior. The house remained in the ownership of Sir Richard’s family, although it was sometimes let to tenants, until it was purchased by 5th Duke of Sutherland in 1919, who modernized its interior. It was sold to John Paul Getty in 1959. In 1980 the Getty Oil Company sold it again to an American company formed by Stanley J Seeger, who established the Sutton Place Foundation, which has carried out what is perhaps the most extensive restoration undertaken in the house since the days of its construction. Sutton Place has a collection of mainly nineteenth and early twentieth century paintings.
Full visit review is published in The Picture Restorer, Issue 17, Spring 2000, p.21