Rediscovering and animating London town houses of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Organised by the Paul Mellon Centre, London, the National Gallery, and Birkbeck College, University of London, this conference explores the position town houses once occupied in the lives of families and the nation as a whole. Some – such as Spencer House – have survived; many have left fragmentary traces; others have been completely destroyed and can only be recreated on the basis of inventories and descriptive accounts.

There is much still to be uncovered about the collections of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts which these buildings once housed, as well as about their furnishing, architecture, gardens, and refashionings over time.
This event follows on from the successful Animating the 18th-century country house conference held at the National Gallery in March 2015. Expert speakers will discuss both famed and little-remembered London town houses, considering how these residences were designed, furnished, and ornamented. Papers also explore the significance and function of these properties for owners and their families, together with the varied experiences of guests and visitors.

Book tickets at http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/calendar/animating-the-georgian-london-town-house

Animating the Georgian London town house

17 March 2016

Sainsbury Wing Theatre National Gallery, London

10.00­ - 10.20am Registration

10.20­ - 10.30am Welcome: Susanna Avery-Quash and Kate Retford

10.30 - ­11.30am Keynote lecture: Desmond Shawe Taylor, 'Picture displays at
Carlton House', chaired by Kate Retford

11.30am - ­12pm Coffee break

12.00 ­- 1.30pm Construction and reconstruction

12.00 ­- 12.20pm Matthew Jenkins and Charlotte Newman,
'London in pieces: Building biographies in Georgian Mayfair'

12.20 ­- 12.40pm Neil Bingham,'The Regency transformation of Burlington
House,Piccadilly, documented through the architectural drawings of Samuel Ware'

12.40 - 1pm Pat Hardy, 'Canaletto's town houses'

1 ­- 1.30pm Q&A

1.30 - ­2.30pm Lunch (not provided)

2.30­ - 4pm Fashioning and inhabiting

2.30­ - 2.50pm Jeremy Howard, 'New light on Norfolk House: The decoration and
furnishing of Norfolk House for the 9th Duke and Duchess of Norfolk'

2.50­ - 3.10pm Anne Nellis Richter, 'Glitter and Fashion in the 'Louvre of
London': Animating Cleveland House'

3.10 - ­3.30pm Peter Nelson Lindfield, 'London's gothic pineapple: 18 Arlington Street'

3.30­ - 4pm Q&A

4­ - 4.30pm Refreshment break

4.30 - 5.30pm Keynote lecture: Adriano Aymonino and Manolo Guerci,'London's greatest mansion in the Strand: Northumberland House, the urban palace of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland', chaired by Susanna Avery-Quash

5.30pm Closing remarks

Ella Fleming | Events Manager

The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Paul Mellon Centre, 16 Bedford Square, WC1B 3JA

T: 020 7580 0311

F: 020 7636 6730

E: eflemingpaul-mellon-centre.ac.uk