North East Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham

The Bowes Museum is a spectacular mock French Chateau surrounded by formal landscaped gardens on the edge of Barnard Castle.

It was designed as a purpose built art gallery to hold the collection of John and Josephine Bowes.

John was the illegitimate son of the 10th Earl of Strathmore, but was legitimised when his parents married the day before his father died. He inherited the family land in County Durham including Streatlam Castle. He made his fortune through coal mining and racehorse breeding, with his Derby-winning horses contributing significantly to his wealth.

John had a strong interest in the theatre and the arts and visited Paris and was enthralled by its culture and vibrant art scene. He bought and managed the Théâtre des Variétés in 1847. This is where he met and married the French actress and painter, Joséphine Benoîte Coffin-Chevallier. The pair bonding over their shared love of the arts. John bought the Château du Barry in Louveciennes as a wedding gift for Josephine. They divided their time between England and France.

Together they formed a formidable partnership. John had already begun collecting paintings, many from artists before they became fashionable. Josephine was eager to shape and expand their personal collection. By the 1860s, they had decided to build a museum to house their collection and began collecting in earnest, often buying quickly and cheaply bulk. They visited international exhibitions, auctions and had a trusted network of Parisian dealers. The aftermath of the French Revolution followed by the Franco-Prussian Wars had released large quantities of items for sale. Together, they amassed a monumental collection of over 15,000 objects including pictures, ceramics and glassware, tapestries and textiles clocks and mechanical items.

They shared a dream of creating a purpose built museum to house their collection and rival the greatest in Europe. They chose Barnard Castle, near John’s family estates. The Bowes had no children and the museum was intended as a lasting legacy to the community that would inspire future generations and improve their lives. They had a strong belief that art should educate and inspire lives and be of public benefit rather than for private wealth.

They sold Chateau de Barry and bought land in Barnard Castle, hiring the French architect Jules Pellechet to design a grand museum styled exactly like a French Chateau.

Constructing the museum took over a decade with rising costs, wage increases and scarce stone supplies slowing progress. Neither lived to see their dream fulfilled. After their deaths, the furnishings and artwork from their Parisian home was given to the museum.

They succeeded in their dream, with a building that is dramatic as its contents.

Not only is it a stunning building, the Bowes Museum is recognised for its world class collection of European fine and decorative arts from the C14th-19th, including works by Goya, El Greco, Canaletto, and Van Dyck.

There is an extensive collection of fine porcelain.

The museum also has the nationally significant Blackborne Lace Collection (one of most comprehensive and important historical lace collections including C17th Italian raised needle lace and French lace) alongside an expansive collection of historic garments.

It also hosts a programme of changing exhibitions.

For many, the highlight is the wonderful mechanical silver swan.


website

Video and story of the museum

cont...

 

[Eleanor]

Bowes Museum cont.... ground and first floors

The Bowes Museum covers three floors.

Ground floor

On the ground floor is reception, cafe and shop along with the Curiosity, Conversation and Create Galleries. These were part of the massive refurbishment project to open up the museum to encourage exploration and bring objects closer than ever before. “Visitors can to move freely through the spaces, engaging with stories in a way that feels immediate, immersive and open-ended.”

I must admit I read the sign, but wasn’t much clearer about the area.... The Curiosity Gallery was an attractive open area, possibly designed to appeal to the children allowing them to touch the exhibits?

I did find the museum got a lot more interesting as I went up the stairs...


First Floor

Above the shop and cafe area are the Founders’ Galleries which cover the lives and legacy of Josephine and John Bowes. Some of Josephine’s pictures are displayed on the walls.

In another room is n artistically arranged jumbled display of some of the items not displayed elsewhere in the museum.

There is a replica of the pink dress so often worn by Josephine in her portraits.

There are also clocks from the Chateau du Barry.

There are three large display rooms across the back of the chateau. One of these had a temporary exhibition about Vivienne Eestwood.

The middle room has a display of architectural styles, beginning with a Tudor style fire surround.

The Baroque style is represented by wood panelling from West Aukland Manor, carved around 1672

Gilling Castle was the home of the Fairfax family who also owned Fairfax House in York. They built a new wing in the latest Palladian style in the early to mid C18th with Roman columns and arches. When the castle became a school in 1930, the long gallery was dismantled and was eventually given to Bowes Museum.

The early Rococo style is represented by panelling from a room in Chesterfield House in London. Chesterfield House was demolished and part of the panelling donated to Bowes Museum.

Finally there is a small Victorian display of furniture.

The final room is the fashion and textile gallery with examples of dresses from the Regency to early C20th.

The wing at the far end has displays of European decorative art and the Lady Ludlow collection of English porcelain.

The European decorative art has displays of Rococo, Baroque, and Empire style furniture.

The far room contains the Lady Ludlow Collection. Born into a wealth family, Alice Sedgewick Mankiewicz first married Julius Werner a very wealthy diamond magnate and later married the 2nd Baron Ludlow. She was a prominent figure in London society and amassed a collection of over 500 pieces of C18th porcelain from all the major factories. The National Art Collections Fund acquired the collection after her death, gifting it to the Bowes Museum.

cont...

 

[Eleanor]

Bowes Museum cont... second floor

The second floor has more ceramic galleries as well as the art galleries.

The ceramic galleries extend over three rooms with items from 1500-1900.

One of the earliest examples is a simple brown glazed jug.

Other early pottery was decorated by brightly coloured designs and scenes.

In the early C18th soft past porcelain was developed in Europe in an attempt to imitate the delicate Chinese porcelain, with some of the best coming from the Sevres and Meissen factories.

Purely decorative figurines also appeared.

British porcelain particularly from Worcester, favoured blue and white designs. Designs could be transferred onto the surface, allowing for mass production.

The three main galleries across the back of the chateau, feature religious and secular art.

Next to the ceramic galleries is a room featuring religious art. El Greco’s painting of the Tears of St Peter is in here.

In the centre of the room are massive German choir stalls from the early C16th.

One of the oldest works is Christ standing in the tomb between the Virgin and St John, crested by the master of Torralba around 1440. It may have been part of a larger altarpiece and shows Christ with the wounds on his hands, sides an forehead.

There is a lovely Crucifixion altarpiece dating from 1490.

One of the highlights is the magnificent Passion, Death and Crucifixion altarpiece dating from 1480-85, by a craftsman known as the Master of the View of Saint Gudule. It probably hung above the altar in a church in Brussels. They were kept closed and only opened on important religious days. It was bought by John and Josephine Bowes in 1859-60 and may have been one of the first pieces bought specifically for the museum.

The four figures on the base panels depict St George, the patron saint of reading. St Jerome was the patron saint of translation and libraries and is usually depicted with a lion. St Augustine was the patron saint of theologians, philosophers and charity and includes a heart as part of his iconography. St Ambrose was the patron saint of bees, beekeeping and candle making.

Above is St Anthony the Abbot who was one of the ‘plague saints’ and may have been included as a protection against the wave of disease spreading across Brussels and the Low Countries. The other panel depicts the family of Zebedee who was the father of James and John.

The inside paintings and carvings depict the events after the last supper that led up to the crucifixion and finally his resurrection from the dead. At the top is God the father and the adoration of the Magi.

The detail of the carving is amazing depicting the different scenes from the Stations of the Cross.

The centre gallery has examples of C15-17th art from the Italian School of Art.

The highlight in this room is the life-size C18th silver swan automaton.

The swan was made in 1773 by the London workshop of jeweller and showman James Cox. The internal mechanism was designed by John Joseph Merlin.a Belgium inventor and clock maker.

It is thought it was intended for the Chinese market, although it never reached there. Instead it was displayed in Cox’s Mechanical Museum in London, where it was in a case with a waterfall and more swans in the background.

The museum closed after Cox went bankrupt and the swan went on tour round the UK and Ireland, changing hands several times. At some point the waterfall and other swans got ‘lost’. The swan was displayed at the Paris International Exhibition in 1867 where it was seen by John and Josephine Bowes. They bought it for their museum for £200. It has been in Bowes Museum ever since. (There is more information about its story here.)

The swan has recently completed a major restoration project and looks magnificent. It ‘performs’ for visiors at 2pm.

The swan sits on a bed of twisted glass rods that simulate swirling water. It is controlled by three separate clockwork mechanisms, one of each controls the music, the glass rods and thirdly the head, neck and fish movements

When wound, a music box plays while the glass rods rotate to mimic flowing water. The swan turns its head, grooms its feathers, and then dips down to ‘catch’ a fish from those moving amongst the rotating glass rods below. The swan then appears to swallow a fish that has been concealed in its beak all along. It is a magical performance.

I didn’t attempt to try and photograph it - just watched in amazement - and the reflections in the glass don’t help either!

Beyond this is the final art gallery of C18th-19th art as well as marble busts of well known persons of the time.

The final room is the small music room opposite this, with a display of musical instruments.

The Bowes Museum is definitely worth a visit. The mock chateau is an iconic (and incongruous) building and for such a small (and somewhat unknown) town in County Durham is one of the best museums in the country. It is a lasting heritage of two very different but complementary characters with their belief that art and culture should be readily available to everyone. I’m not usually a great one for paintings but loved the religious art gallery and especially the Passion, Death and Crucifixion altarpiece. The porcelain collection is magnificent and as for the silver swan....