Horace and Hogarth reunited
Help stretch our target beyond 100%
A big thank you to all our funders
On behalf of us all at Strawberry Hill House, thank you to everyone who has helped us meet our target. Watching the percentage grow day by day has been a real thrill and we've been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and support we have received. Clearly acquiring this remarkable painting is a rare opportunity and we look forward to this portrait joining other works in our collection.
Can you help us go even further? Once we have acquired the painting, we want to be able to give the painting pride of place. All additional funds will go toward new lighting and interpretation to make the most of this exceptional work for our visitors. This will include a rehang of some of our paintings in the Great Parlour at Strawberry Hill House in preparation for displaying Horace’s portrait alongside other family portraits.
Thank you once again for your generous support and please do continue to share with all your friends and family. We look forward to welcoming you to Strawberry Hill House & Garden very soon.
Help us bring Horace home
Strawberry Hill House & Garden, created by Horace Walpole in the 18th century, has been open to visitors for over 250 years. This extraordinary building, is internationally famous as Britain's finest example of Georgian Gothic revival architecture and home to an important collection of paintings and objects.
Strawberry Hill House needs to raise £25,000 to purchase a rare and highly significant Portrait of Horace Walpole as a child, by renowned painter William Hogarth, so it can return to public view at Walpole’s ‘little gothic castle’.
We hope to acquire the painting from a private collection through a hybrid Acceptance in Lieu, administered by the Arts Council. The National Heritage Memorial Fund has generously awarded the Trust £115k and Art Fund has kindly offered £90k, but we now need to raise the final £25k by 14 April 2022, to meet the total cost of £230k.
Horace Walpole, son of Britain’s first prime minister grew up to be a politician, writer and influential art collector. His creation, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, is one of the best-known examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the world, while his literary reputation rests on The Castle of Otranto (acknowledged as the first gothic novel) and over 5,000 letters that provide a commentary on social, political, and cultural life in the 18th century.
This portrait is of exceptional interest for two reasons - it is the earliest surviving oil portrait of Walpole, and a rare example of Hogarth’s early mature pictorial work. It also is the earliest-known commissioned picture of an identifiable sitter by Hogarth and his first-known portrait of a child.
The painting was commissioned by Horace’s father, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), the first British Prime Minister, when his youngest son was aged 10. It depicts the young Horace in a landscape pointing at a sundial with a Cupid statue pointing to the Roman numeral X (ten) on the dial. The playful spaniel in the foreground is one of a long line owned by Horace throughout his life.
Given the artist, subject, context, and provenance of this painting, it is very much a work of national and international importance.
Walpole once famously said: ‘My buildings, like my writings, are of paper, and will blow away ten years after I am dead’.
Fortunately, this has not proven to be the case and today we are able to celebrate this flamboyant and remarkable character at Strawberry Hill House. Your help will mean we’ll be able to bring this artwork home and ensure both Hogarth and Walpole’s creativity can continue to inspire future generations.
Thank you for your support.
Latest updates (5)
June 2022
We are delighted to announce that following the incredible support shown by so many generous donors, the William Hogarth portrait of Horace Walpole as a child, will be on display at Strawberry Hill House from this Sunday 12 June.
We are delighted to announce that following the incredible support shown by so many generous donors, the William Hogarth portrait of Horace Walpole as a child, will be on display at Strawberry Hill House from this Sunday 12 June.
This rare and significant painting, depicts the young Horace in a landscape showing a sundial with a Cupid statue pointing to the Roman numeral X (ten) on the dial. The playful spaniel in the foreground is one of a long line owned by Horace throughout his life.
Commissioned by Horace’s father, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), the first British Prime Minister, when his youngest son was aged 10, this portrait is of exceptional interest for two reasons – it is the earliest surviving oil portrait of Walpole, and a rare example of Hogarth’s early mature pictorial work. It also is the earliest-known commissioned picture of an identifiable sitter by Hogarth and his first-known portrait of a child.
William Hogarth was an English painter and engraver who played a crucial part in establishing an English school of painting, both through the quality of his painting and campaigns to improve the status of artists in England. This portrait was commissioned from Hogarth when he was at the very outset of his career and Horace was a pupil at Eton.
Walpole and Hogarth are among the most defining figures in Georgian society. Their works and many achievements have contributed to shape a certain idea of ‘Britishness’, in the literary and artistic fields worldwide. Walpole was himself an enthusiastic collector of Hogarth, whom he described as “a great and original genius.”
Many of Hogarth’s early works and much of Walpole’s library, archive and art collection have been acquired by institutions and private collections overseas, which is why this acquisition by Strawberry Hill House & Garden is all the more significant.
On behalf of us all at Strawberry Hill House, thank you to everyone who has helped the House to acquire this remarkable painting.
The conservation team have been busy making preparations for the painting.
With just over a week to go until the official unveiling of the remarkable painting of Horace Walpole as a child by William Hogarth, our curator and conservation team have been busy making preparations for the installation of the painting.
Following dry cleaning of the frame and the back of the canvas, our conservation team undertook treatment on the newly acquired Hogarth painting. A backing was applied as a preventive conservation measure to support long-term collections care. By securing an inert polyester film with easily reversible materials, the outcome is that the measure provides a barrier to dust build up and reduces the movement of the canvas to protect the paint layer.
We look forward to sharing behind-the-scenes photographs of the painting installation next week, ahead of welcoming visitors to see the painting in situ from Sunday 12 June.
With thanks to...
A big thank you to all project backers. You made art happen.