Portraits and Pictures
Several paintings at Hardwick Hall are just too enticing not to share. Portraiture is so personal, so reflective. The most important people in Bess’s life appear in her collection: Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots and two of her husbands, George Talbot and Sir William Cavendish, her beloved granddaughter, Arabella and many more. This portrait of Elisabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard is so glorious and full of life. It is almost life size unlike his usual delicate miniatures. Isn’t this exquisite!
Elisabeth I
In the grand collection of 89 pictures, the majority of her are portraits. They document her era.
Another delicate gem is the miniature of Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard.
The ageing Elizabeth is idealized as ‘Astraea’, the goddess described in Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue as presiding over the classical golden age. Artists and poets linked Astraea’s qualities to eternal youth and justice, reinforcing by this association the cult of the Virgin Queen. Is this miniature not the image of Edmund Spencer’s Faerie Queen? Why is it in Bess’s Gallery? They drove each other to distraction. Bess lobbied hard to marry a grand daughter to Charles Stuart, a potential heir. She also promoted her beautiful granddaughter as a candidate for the throne after Elizabeth’s death. Was having her image in her gallery the final triumph? In the end, Elizabeth I may be cast as The Faerie Queen and Astraea but Bess, long lived and resilient will have the last word.
William Cavendish, the 1st Earl of Devonshire, Elizabeth Hardwick’s 2nd son…I think he looks like Kenneth Branaugh. He was Bess’s second son. His older brother sold him Hardwick Hall.
The following photographs and paintings also live at Hardwick in a marvelous reception room which is Tudor and modern all at once. It is a warm and inviting and a favorite of the last Duchess who lived at Hardwick Hall who use it as her dower house until her death in 1960.
Evelyn Cavendish 9th Duchess of Devonshire (1870-1960)
by John Singer Sargeant
Evelyn and Bess are the book ends of Hardwick Hall. They were master needle women, repairing the tapestries that are so famously hung on the walls of the house. They lived during their last years at Hardwick and died in the same room.
Evelyn’s nod to Bess with her ED initials on her embroidery. Above is Evelyn’s embroidery bag, so personal and connected, stitch by stitch to an illustrious ancestor. Below, the shared bedroom of Bess and Evelyn, more than 300 years apart, complete with the photos that meant the most to her. The Duchess also had eight children and was also a Lady of the Chamber for Queen Mary, the Consort of George V.
A smallish bedroom belonging to Evelyn Devonshire until her death in 1960-It was once also the bedroom of Elizabeth, the Countess of Shrewsbury until her death in 1608;
In the same reception room where Evelyn embroidered tapestries are a series of photos that tell another story of the Devonshires.
The brothers are Evelyn’s grandchildren. The older brother on the right was the future 11th Duke of Devonshire. He was killed by sniper fire in the Second World War during fighting in the Low Countries in September 1944 while leading a company of the Coldstream Guards. He had married Kathleen Kennedy four months earlier.
The young brother on the left is Andrew Cavendish, inherited all and would become the 11th Duke. He married the youngest of the Mitford sisters, Deborah, (Devo) She embraced her role as Duchess with tremendous commitment, holding Chatsworth as an independent enterprise, owned by the family, continuing a 500 year tradition of seamless inheritance and ownership.
Bess worked tirelessly throughout her life to raise the barre for her family, socially and politically. Her dream was that one of her own would sit on the throne of England. Queen Mary is holding Charles III in the photo. Bess is his 11th great grandmother. All things come to those who wait.