Founded in 1895, the UK's National Trust is
itself a Victorian institution, although its original aims did not include the
acquisition of 'great houses', let alone collections of pictures. However, one
item of collateral damage from two world wars was a stream of such properties
coming up for sale, conversion or, in many sad cases, demolition; the Trust has
saved a splendid selection of the most interesting and much of their contents.
The full story of the Trust's involvement with picture collecting can be found
in the Introduction to In Trust for the Nation, the catalogue to a 1995
exhibition of paintings from NT houses.
Many Victorian pictures (often considered virtually worthless when the
properties were bought!) are now on show in Trust properties. As places to see
pictures they have considerable merits: there is usually an appropriate period
ambience, and (excepting restoration and exhibitions such as the one mentioned
above) the pictures are usually reliably on display -- a huge plus. On the
other hand, NT houses are not picture galleries (but see Cragside, which has one) and authentic lighting
is sometimes less than ideal for viewing; it is also possible to find rooms
artfully arranged 'as they would have been', but then -- understandably -- roped
off so that pictures can only be seen in part or obliquely.
The National Trust properties that feature in Phryne include -- Berkshire: Buscot; Cambridgeshire: Wimpole Hall; Cornwall: Lanhydrock; Northumberland: Cragside, Wallington; Surrey: Standen; Sussex: Polesden Lacey; Warwickshire: Wightwick.
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