Founding the Whig Country House: - Chatsworth House in the Age of English Baroque -
This study proposes Chatsworth House as the first Whig country house built by William Cavendish, the 4th Earl of Devonshire. The earl was a leading Whig who became one of the Immortal Seven responsible for bringing William of Orange and Mary II to the throne of England through the Glorious Revolution. His stately home, Chatsworth House was redesigned by William Talman in the Baroque style around and after the Revolution at his political apogee and has retained its spatial character ever since. Despite the symbolic and historic importance of the house, research on it is relatively scarce. It has been conducted commonly relying either on the social and economic power of the Earl or on the partial activities of the individual artists who were engaged in the remodeling of the house. Instead, this paper explores the house as an entity that presents the Earl’s political vision and aesthetic. It examines the Baroque quality from Talman’s design to Quadraturas that shaped the house as “the first flaunting symbol in the architecture of territorial Whiggery” in the words of John Summerson. Ultimately, this study aims to lay the foundation for promoting the studies of art and architectural culture in the age of English Baroque.