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Raynham Hall

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Trompe-l'œil ( French for 'deceive the eye'; / t r ɒ m p ˈ l ɔɪ / tromp- LOY ; French: [tʁɔ̃p lœj] ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. Trompe-l'œil , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving painted objects or spaces as real. Forced perspective is a related illusion in architecture.

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71-535: Raynham Hall is a country house in Norfolk , England . For nearly 400 years it has been the seat of the Townshend family. The hall gave its name to the five estate villages, known as The Raynhams , and is reported to be haunted, providing the scene for possibly the most famous ghost photo of all time, the famous Brown Lady descending the staircase . However, the ghost has been allegedly seen infrequently since

142-613: A deck of playing cards might appear to be sitting on the table. A particularly impressive example can be seen at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire , where one of the internal doors appears to have a violin and bow suspended from it, in a trompe-l'œil painted around 1723 by Jan van der Vaart . Another example can be found in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College , Greenwich, London. This Wren building

213-428: A fortunate few; it was the centre of its own world, providing employment to hundreds of people in the vicinity of its estate . In previous eras, when state benefits were unheard of, those working on an estate were among the most fortunate, receiving secured employment and rent-free accommodation. At the summit of this category of people was the indoor staff of the country house. Unlike many of their contemporaries prior to

284-529: A mixture of high architecture , often as interpreted by a local architect or surveyor, and determined by practicality as much as by the whims of architectural taste. An example of this is Brympton d'Evercy in Somerset, a house of many periods that is unified architecturally by the continuing use of the same mellow, local Ham Hill stone . The fashionable William Kent redesigned Rousham House only to have it quickly and drastically altered to provide space for

355-628: A more fully integrated approach to architectural illusion, which when used by painters to "open up" the space of a wall or ceiling is known as quadratura . Examples include Pietro da Cortona 's Allegory of Divine Providence in the Palazzo Barberini and Andrea Pozzo 's Apotheosis of St Ignatius on the ceiling of the Roman church of Sant'Ignazio in Campo Marzio . The Mannerist and Baroque style interiors of Jesuit churches in

426-454: A personal work." In 1713, Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend , married Robert Walpole 's prettiest sister, Dorothy . She was his second wife, and is reputed in the gossip of the time to have been previously the mistress of Lord Wharton , "whose character was so infamous, and his lady's complaisant subserviency so notorious, that no young woman could be four and twenty hours under their roof with safety to her reputation." Lady Townshend

497-563: A real wall. Then he runs towards what appears to be a hallway, but when he runs up this as well we realize that it is a large trompe-l'œil mural. More recently, Roy Andersson has made use of similar techniques in his feature films. Matte painting is a variant of trompe-l'œil , and is used in film production with elements of a scene are painted on glass panels mounted in front of the camera. Elsa Schiaparelli frequently made use of trompe-l'œil in her designs, most famously perhaps in her Bowknot Sweater , which some consider to be

568-767: A renaissance since around 1980. Significant artists in this field are the German muralist Rainer Maria Latzke , who invented, in the 1990s, a new method of producing illusion paintings, frescography , and the English artist Graham Rust . OK Go 's music video for " The Writing's on the Wall " uses a number of trompe-l'œil illusions alongside other optical illusions, captured through a one-shot take. Trompe-l'œil illusions have been used as gameplay mechanics in video games such as The Witness and Superliminal . Japanese filmmaker and animator Isao Takahata regarded achieving

639-473: A screen in the manner of a Roman triumphal arch that particularly irritated Lord Oxford , who saw it in 1732: "the Arch of Severus , surely a most preposterous thing to introduce a building in a room, which was designed to stand in a street." In spite of a series of 20th-century sales, many fine portraits still adorn Kent's splendid rooms at Raynham. Hanging beside his lovely black and white marble chimney-piece in

710-519: A sense of trompe-l'œil to be important for his work, stating that an animated world should feel as if it "existed right there" so that "people believe in a fantasy world and characters that no one has seen in reality." Tourist attractions employing large-scale illusory art allowing visitors to photograph themselves in fantastic scenes have opened in several Asian countries, such as the Trickeye Museum and Hong Kong 3D Museum . Recently

781-425: Is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house . This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry who dominated rural Britain until

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852-510: Is called a castle, but not all buildings with the name "castle" are fortified (for example Highclere Castle in Hampshire ). The term stately home is subject to debate, and avoided by historians and other academics. As a description of a country house, the term was first used in a poem by Felicia Hemans , "The Homes of England", originally published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1827. In

923-767: Is known as di sotto in sù , meaning "from below, upward" in Italian. The elements above the viewer are rendered as if viewed from true vanishing point perspective. Well-known examples are the Camera degli Sposi in Mantua and Antonio da Correggio 's (1489–1534) Assumption of the Virgin in the Parma Cathedral . Similarly, Vittorio Carpaccio (1460–1525) and Jacopo de' Barbari (c. 1440 – before 1516) added small trompe-l'œil features to their paintings, playfully exploring

994-473: Is politics; they talk politics; and they make politics, quite spontaneously. There are no written terms for distinguishing between vast country palaces and comparatively small country houses; the descriptive terms, which can include castle , manor and court , provide no firm clue and are often only used because of a historical connection with the site of such a building. Therefore, for ease or explanation, Britain's country houses can be categorised according to

1065-574: Is the ITV series Downton Abbey . Trompe-l%27%C5%93il The phrase, which can also be spelled without the hyphen and ligature in English as trompe l'oeil , originates with the artist Louis-Léopold Boilly , who used it as the title of a painting he exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1800. Although the term gained currency only in the early 19th century, the illusionistic technique associated with trompe-l'œil dates much further back. It

1136-551: The 2nd Viscount Townshend by William Kent , who brought details of its frontispiece on the North Front more closely in line with the manner of Inigo Jones, whose style formed the pattern for Palladianism in Britain. Working at Raynham from 1725 to 1732, Kent added the north wing to Raynham and decorated the interior, where much of Kent's finest work can be seen, especially in the elaborately carved architectural chimneypieces,

1207-508: The Reform Act 1832 . Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in manor houses . With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until the agricultural depressions of the 1870s , the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However,

1278-679: The 16th and 17th centuries often included such trompe-l'œil ceiling paintings, which optically "open" the ceiling or dome to the heavens with a depiction of Jesus', Mary 's, or a saint's ascension or assumption. An example of a perfect architectural trompe-l'œil is the illusionistic dome in the Jesuit church, Vienna, by Andrea Pozzo , which is only slightly curved, but gives the impression of true architecture. Trompe-l'œil paintings became very popular in Flemish and later in Dutch painting in

1349-416: The 17th century arising from the development of still life painting. The Flemish painter Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts created a chantourné painting showing an easel holding a painting. Chantourné literally means 'cutout' and refers to a trompe-l'œil representation designed to stand away from a wall. The Dutch painter Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten was a master of the trompe-l'œil and theorized on

1420-512: The 1850s, with the English economy booming, new mansions were built in one of the many revivalist architectural styles popular throughout the 19th century. The builders of these new houses were able to take advantage of the political unrest in Europe that gave rise to a large trade in architectural salvage. This new wave of country house building is exemplified by the Rothschild properties in

1491-419: The 18th century with houses such as Castle Howard , Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall . Such building reached its zenith from the late 17th century until the mid-18th century; these houses were often completely built or rebuilt in their entirety by one eminent architect in the most fashionable architectural style of the day and often have a suite of Baroque state apartments, typically in enfilade , reserved for

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1562-488: The 20th century, the term was later popularised in a song by Noël Coward , and in modern usage it often implies a country house that is open to visitors at least some of the time. In England, the terms "country house" and "stately home" are sometimes used vaguely and interchangeably; however, many country houses such as Ascott in Buckinghamshire were deliberately designed not to be stately, and to harmonise with

1633-474: The 20th century, they slept in proper beds, wore well-made adequate clothes and received three proper meals a day, plus a small wage. In an era when many still died from malnutrition or lack of medicine, the long working hours were a small price to pay. As a result of the aristocratic habit of only marrying within the aristocracy, and whenever possible to a sole heiress, many owners of country houses owned several country mansions, and would visit each according to

1704-408: The Italian form and plan. Except for its hipped roof and Dutch gables, Raynham could easily be mistaken for a house built nearly a century later. Raynham's indications that it may have been influenced by Inigo Jones have superseded earlier optimistic attributions to Jones himself: Sir John Summerson summarized his view of its design, "We do not know who designed it, but may infer that Townshend had

1775-480: The Princess' Room is a painting which is believed to be a preliminary sketch for the famous van Dyck portrait "Children of Charles I." Until 1904, there were many more paintings at Raynham, including several fine family portraits by Kneller and Reynolds . The most famous and valuable was "Belisarius" by Salvator Rosa , which was presented to the 2nd Viscount Townshend by King Frederick William I of Prussia . This

1846-537: The architectural doorcases and the painted staircase imitating niches and sculpture in trompe-l'œil and the painted ceiling imitating mosaic in the 'Belisarius' Room. The impressive and beautiful ceiling of the Marble Hall (completed 1730) with its motif of Lord Townshend's coat-of-arms was sometimes attributed in the 19th century to Inigo Jones himself. In the State Dining Room Kent introduced

1917-514: The assistance of somebody who had worked in proximity to Inigo Jones, possibly at Newmarket." Nicholas Cooper finds it "a medley of up-to-date elements, largely Jonesian and derived from London and probably also from the Prince's Lodging at Newmarket," Howard Colvin finds Raynham "a remarkable epitome of motifs that appear in Jones's earlier drawings... an intelligent reflection of his style rather than

1988-416: The beginning of the 1980s when German artist Rainer Maria Latzke began to combine classical fresco art with contemporary content, trompe-l'œil became increasingly popular for interior murals. The Spanish painter Salvador Dalí utilized the technique for a number of his paintings. Trompe-l'œil , in the form of " forced perspective ", has long been used in stage-theater set design , so as to create

2059-467: The best-known examples of the showy prodigy house , often built with the intention of attracting the monarch to visit. By the reign of Charles I , Inigo Jones and his form of Palladianism had changed the face of English domestic architecture completely, with the use of turrets and towers as an architectural reference to the earlier castles and fortified houses completely disappearing. The Palladian style, in various forms, interrupted briefly by baroque ,

2130-417: The boundary between image and reality. For example, a painted fly might appear to be sitting on the painting's frame, or a curtain might appear to partly conceal the painting, a piece of paper might appear to be attached to a board, or a person might appear to be climbing out of the painting altogether—all in reference to the contest of Zeuxis and Parrhasius . Perspective theories in the 17th century allowed

2201-628: The building's sides features the Chicago Board of Trade Building , intended as a reflection of the building located two miles south. Several contemporary artists use chalk on pavement or sidewalk to create trompe-l'œil works, a technique called street painting or "pavement art". These creations last only until washed away, and therefore must be photographed to be preserved. Practitioners of this form include Julian Beever , Edgar Mueller , Leon Keer , and Kurt Wenner . The Palazzo Salis of Tirano , Italy , has over centuries and throughout

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2272-524: The circumstances of their creation. The great houses are the largest of the country houses; in truth palaces, built by the country's most powerful – these were designed to display their owners' power or ambitions to power. Really large unfortified or barely fortified houses began to take over from the traditional castles of the crown and magnates during the Tudor period, with vast houses such as Hampton Court Palace and Burghley House , and continued until

2343-523: The country saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses. Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries saw many former ecclesiastical properties granted to the King's favourites, who then converted them into private country houses. Woburn Abbey , Forde Abbey and many other mansions with abbey or priory in their name became private houses during this period. Other terms used in

2414-428: The design of the wing around the next corner. These varying "improvements", often criticised at the time, today are the qualities that make English country houses unique. Wealthy and influential people, often bored with their formal duties, go to the country in order to get out of London, the ugliest and most uncomfortable city in the world; they invented the long week-end to stay away as long as possible. Their métier

2485-427: The early 1970s, hundreds of country houses were demolished . Houses that survived destruction are now mostly Grade I or II listed as buildings of historic interest with restrictions on restoration and re-creation work. However such work is usually very expensive. Several houses have been restored, some over many years. For example at Copped Hall where the restoration started in 1995 continues to this day. Although

2556-556: The end of the 13th century with the cycle of Assisi in Saint Francis stories. Many Italian painters of the late Quattrocento , such as Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) and Melozzo da Forlì (1438–1494), began painting illusionistic ceiling paintings , generally in fresco , that employed perspective and techniques such as foreshortening to create the impression of greater space for the viewer below. This type of trompe-l'œil illusionism as specifically applied to ceiling paintings

2627-507: The fake tunnel. This is usually followed by the coyote's foolishly trying to run through the tunnel after the road runner, only to smash into the hard rock-face. This sight gag was employed in Who Framed Roger Rabbit . In Chicago 's Near North Side , Richard Haas used a 16-story 1929 apartment hotel converted into a 1981 apartment building for trompe-l'œil murals in homage to Chicago school architecture . One of

2698-462: The first use of trompe-l'œil in fashion. The Tears Dress , which she did in collaboration with Salvador Dalí , features both appliqué tears on the veil and trompe-l'œil tears on the dress itself. Fictional trompe-l'œil appears in many Looney Tunes , such as the Road Runner cartoons, where, for example, Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel on a rock wall, and Road Runner then races through

2769-479: The home counties and Bletchley Park (rebuilt in several styles, and famous for its code-breaking role in World War II). The slow decline of the English country house coincided with the rise not just of taxation, but also of modern industry, along with the agricultural depression of the 1870s. By 1880, this had led some owners into financial shortfalls as they tried to balance maintenance of their estates with

2840-435: The household. These houses were always an alternative residence to a London house. During the 18th and 19th centuries, for the highest echelons of English society, the country house served as a place for relaxing, hunting and running the country with one's equals at the end of the week, with some houses having their own theatre where performances were staged. The country house, however, was not just an oasis of pleasure for

2911-655: The illusion of a much deeper space than the existing stage. A famous early example is the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza , with Vincenzo Scamozzi 's seven forced-perspective "streets" (1585), which appear to recede into the distance. Trompe-l'œil is employed in Donald O'Connor 's famous "Running up the wall" scene in the film Singin' in the Rain (1952). During the finale of his "Make 'em Laugh" number he first runs up

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2982-556: The immediately preceding war then in World War I, were now paying far higher rates of tax, and agricultural incomes had dropped. Thus, the solution for many was to hold contents auctions and then demolish the house and sell its stone, fireplaces , and panelling . This is what happened to many of Britain's finest houses. Despite this slow decline, so necessary was the country house for entertaining and prestige that in 1917 Viscount Lee of Fareham donated his country house Chequers to

3053-438: The income they provided. Some relied on funds from secondary sources such as banking and trade while others, like the severely impoverished Duke of Marlborough , sought to marry American heiresses to save their country houses and lifestyles. The ultimate demise began immediately following World War I . The members of the huge staff required to maintain large houses had either left to fight and never returned, departed to work in

3124-491: The landscape, while some of the great houses such as Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall were built as "power houses" to dominate the landscape, and were most certainly intended to be "stately" and impressive. In his book Historic Houses: Conversations in Stately Homes , the author and journalist Robert Harling documents nineteen "stately homes"; these range in size from the vast Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard to

3195-415: The late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swansong of the traditional English country house lifestyle. Increased taxation and the effects of World War I led to the demolition of hundreds of houses ; those that remained had to adapt to survive. While a château or a Schloss can be a fortified or unfortified building, a country house, similar to an Ansitz , is usually unfortified. If fortified, it

3266-544: The latter two are ducal palaces, Montacute, although built by a Master of the Rolls to Queen Elizabeth I, was occupied for the next 400 years by his descendants, who were gentry without a London townhouse , rather than aristocracy. They finally ran out of funds in the early 20th century. However, the vast majority of English country houses, often owned at different times by gentlemen and peers , are an evolution of one or more styles with facades and wings in different styles in

3337-655: The minuscule Ebberston Hall , and in architecture from the Jacobean Renaissance of Hatfield House to the eccentricities of Sezincote . The book's collection of stately homes also includes George IV's Brighton town palace, the Royal Pavilion . The country houses of England have evolved over the last five hundred years. Before this time, larger houses were usually fortified, reflecting the position of their owners as feudal lords , de facto overlords of their manors . The Tudor period of stability in

3408-416: The most eminent guests, the entertainment of whom was of paramount importance in establishing and maintaining the power of the owner. The common denominator of this category of English country houses is that they were designed to be lived in with a certain degree of ceremony and pomp. It was not unusual for the family to have a small suite of rooms for withdrawing in privacy away from the multitude that lived in

3479-399: The munitions factories, or filled the void left by the fighting men in other workplaces. Of those who returned after the war, many left the countryside for better-paid jobs in towns. The final blow for many country houses came following World War II ; having been requisitioned during the war, they were returned to the owners in poor repair. Many estate owners, having lost their heirs, if not in

3550-468: The names of houses to describe their origin or importance include palace , castle , court , hall , mansion , park , house , manor , and place . It was during the second half of the reign of Elizabeth I , and under her successor, James I , that the first architect-designed mansions, thought of today as epitomising the English country house, began to make their appearance. Burghley House , Longleat House , and Hatfield House are among

3621-454: The nation for the use of a prime minister who might not possess one of his or her own. Chequers still fulfills that need today as do both Chevening House and Dorneywood , donated for sole use of high-ranking ministers of the Crown. Today, many country houses have become hotels, schools, hospitals and museums, while others have survived as conserved ruins, but from the early 20th century until

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3692-468: The owner of a "power house" or a small manor, the inhabitants of the English country house have become collectively referred to as the ruling class, because this is exactly what they did in varying degrees, whether by having high political influence and power in national government, or in the day-to-day running of their own localities or "county" in such offices as lord/deputy lieutenant , magistrates , or occasionally even clergy. The Country house mystery

3763-529: The owner's twelve children. Canons Ashby , home to poet John Dryden 's family, is another example of architectural evolution: a medieval farmhouse enlarged in the Tudor era around a courtyard, given grandiose plaster ceilings in the Stuart period , and then having Georgian façades added in the 18th century. The whole is a glorious mismatch of styles and fashions that seamlessly blend together. These could be called

3834-512: The ownership or management of some houses has been transferred to a private trust , most notably at Chatsworth , other houses have transferred art works and furnishings under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme to ownership by various national or local museums, but retained for display in the building. This enables the former owners to offset tax, the payment of which would otherwise have necessitated

3905-554: The painted grapes. A rival, Parrhasius , asked Zeuxis to judge one of his paintings that was behind a pair of tattered curtains in his study. Parrhasius asked Zeuxis to pull back the curtains, but when Zeuxis tried, he could not, as the curtains were included in Parrhasius's painting—making Parrhasius the winner. A fascination with perspective drawing arose during the Renaissance . But Giotto had begun using perspective at

3976-483: The palace used trompe-l'œil in place of more expensive real masonry, doors, staircases, balconies, and draperies to create an illusion of sumptuousness and opulence. Trompe-l'œil in the form of illusion architecture and Lüftlmalerei is common on façades in the Alpine region. Trompe-l'œil, in the form of "illusion painting", is also used in contemporary interior design, where illusionary wall paintings experienced

4047-453: The photo was taken. Its most famous resident was Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674–1738), leader in the House of Lords . Raynham Hall is one of the most splendid of the great houses of Norfolk . After a false start in 1619 and the accumulation on site of a large quantity of Ketton stone in 1621 it was rebegun in 1622, and by the time of Sir Roger Townshend 's death in 1637 it

4118-462: The private sale of the art works. For example, tapestries and furniture at Houghton Hall are now owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum . In addition, increasing numbers of country houses hold licences for weddings and civil ceremonies . Another source of income is to use the house as a venue for parties, a film location or a corporate entertainment venue. While many country houses are open to

4189-472: The public and derive income through that means, they remain homes, in some cases inhabited by the descendants of their original owners. The lifestyles of those living and working in a country house in the early 20th century were recreated in a BBC television programme, The Edwardian Country House , filmed at Manderston House in Scotland. Another television programme which features life in country houses

4260-748: The role of art as the lifelike imitation of nature in his 1678 book, the Introduction to the Academy of Painting, or the Visible World ( Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst: anders de zichtbaere werelt , Rotterdam, 1678). A fanciful form of architectural trompe-l'œil , quodlibet , features realistically rendered paintings of such items as paper knives, playing cards, ribbons, and scissors, apparently accidentally left lying around. Trompe-l'œil can also be found painted on tables and other items of furniture, on which, for example,

4331-519: The season: Grouse shooting in Scotland , pheasant shooting and fox hunting in England. The Earl of Rosebery , for instance, had Dalmeny House in Scotland, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, and another house near Epsom just for the racing season. For many, this way of life, which began a steady decline in 1914, continued well into the 20th century, and for a few continues to this day. In

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4402-444: The second category of Britain's country houses are those that belonged to the squirearchy or landed gentry . These tend either to have evolved from medieval hall houses, with rooms added as required, or were purpose-built by relatively unknown local architects. Smaller, and far greater in number than the "power houses", these were still the epicentre of their own estate, but were often the only residence of their owner. However, whether

4473-493: The true English country house. Wilton House , one of England's grandest houses, is in a remarkably similar vein; although, while the Drydens, mere squires, at Canons Ashby employed a local architect, at Wilton the mighty Earls of Pembroke employed the finest architects of the day: first Holbein , 150 years later Inigo Jones, and then Wyatt followed by Chambers. Each employed a different style of architecture, seemingly unaware of

4544-473: Was "the first of its kind in England" as the genealogist G. E. Cokayne averred, it was certainly "one of the outstanding country houses of the period." Perhaps because of the three-year grand tour of Europe which Sir Roger had undertaken, accompanied by his mason, William Edge of Raynham, whom he paid in 1620 for twenty-eight weeks accompanying him "in England and out of England". Raynham was built in an entirely new style, abandoning native tradition and following

4615-485: Was (and is) often employed in murals . Instances from Greek and Roman times are known, for instance in Pompeii . A typical trompe-l'œil mural might depict a window, door, or hallway, intended to suggest a larger room. A version of an oft-told ancient Greek story concerns a contest between two renowned painters. Zeuxis (born around 464 BC) produced a still life painting so convincing that birds flew down to peck at

4686-520: Was a popular genre of English detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s; set in the residence of the gentry and often involving a murder in a country house temporarily isolated by a snowstorm or similar with the suspects all at a weekend house party. Following the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, a third category of country houses was built as newly rich industrialists and bankers were eager to display their wealth and taste. By

4757-530: Was buried in 1726. Walpole was Townshend's neighbour in Norfolk as well as his brother-in-law, but political and personal rivalry between them was exacerbated by Walpole's building of Houghton Hall . As Lord Hervey observed, "Lord Townshend looked upon his own seat at Raynham as the metropolis of Norfolk, and considered every stone that augmented the splendour of Houghton, as a diminution of the grandeur of Raynham." Later extensions and interiors were designed for

4828-552: Was painted by Sir James Thornhill , the first British born painter to be knighted and is a classic example of the Baroque style popular in the early 18th century. The American 19th-century still-life painter William Harnett specialized in trompe-l'œil . In the 20th century, from the 1960s on, the American Richard Haas and many others painted large trompe-l'œil murals on the sides of city buildings. From

4899-443: Was substantially complete, though apparently some rooms had not been fitted out, for when the architect Sir Roger Pratt saw it a few years after Townshend's death, he recalled later Not long after it was built... I was some while in it, while it had no ornament at all... There was somewhat in it divine in the symmetry of proportions of length, height and breadth which was harmonious to the rational soul. Whether or not Raynham Hall

4970-422: Was to predominate until the second half of the 18th century when, influenced by ancient Greek styles, it gradually evolved into the neoclassicism championed by such architects as Robert Adam . Some of the best known of England's country houses were the work of only one architect/designer, built in a relatively short, particular time: Montacute House , Chatsworth House , and Blenheim Palace are examples. While

5041-586: Was valued at £5,000 in 1804, but was disposed of a hundred years later for £273. Charles Townshend, 8th Marquess Townshend , is the present owner of the Hall. Gallery of images of Raynham Hall featured in In English Homes in December 1909: 52°47′47″N 0°47′25″E  /  52.7965°N 0.7902°E  / 52.7965; 0.7902 English country house An English country house

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