Yesterday we visited Burghley House as it was too hot to do much
in the open air. An interesting place but towards the end Mrs H and I gazed up
at this painted ceiling for a while, both of us consumed by something which was not
admiration. From the guide book
The Hell Staircase
The ceiling of this dark and lofty staircase was painted by
Verrio as his last commission at Burghley. Sadly by the time he made this
contract, he was heavily in debt and was unable to retain his assistants who
drifted away to more financially secure projects. Working mainly alone, this
ceiling took 11 months to complete. It shows the mouth of Hell as the enormous
gaping mouth of a cat and countless souls in torment within.
Mrs H and I had pretty much the same reaction – mad as a box
of frogs.
4 comments:
Cool, Mrs W and I would go there if it were National Trust.
Here's another painted ceiling that might be of interest, except that you can get much closer to this one:
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/06/28/three-months-left-for-once-in-a-lifetime-chance-to-see-the-painted-hall/
Verrio was working during a period of what we now refer to as a Little Ice Age with extremes of weather conditions. It was also a time of extreme religious conflict and ideas and wars a plenty. It was generally held that mankind was doomed and very soon it would be all up with all of us. In this context his work seems almost moderate.
Mark - you can opt to buy an annual pass at no extra cost. The downside is that they take your photo and link the pass to it so it can't be shared.
Andrew - interesting. If we lived nearer we'd probably go and see that.
Demetrius - strange how we are still supposed to be doomed, as if a sense of doom is the real basis of religious sentiment.
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