Preserving a Vital Piece of the Shugborough Art Collection
West Front of Shugborough - Nicholas Dall
The Ruins, Shugborough - Nicholas Dall
Tower of the Winds, Shugborough - Moses Griffiths
Extensive view of Shugborough Park and Monuments - Nicholas Dall
The Palladin Bridge and Cascade, Shugborough - Edward Jones
The East Front of Shugborough from the River Sow - Moses Griffiths
The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates - Moses Griffiths
For 2025 we are donating £6,000 to Shugborough to fund the conservation of part of the Shugborough art collection. These are 21 really important watercolour paintings. Mostly by Nicholas Thomas Dall and Moses Griffiths, with one by Edward Jones, they are a really significant part of the Shugborough collection. They depict the mansion, the landscape and the monuments, adding greatly to our knowledge of how Shugborough was originally designed.
Currently displayed along the ground floor corridor of the mansion, they have faded over time, and work is needed to protect them. The project will include sending a selection of them to the National Trust conservation studio at Knowle to assess how much they have faded and how much more they may do so. They will then be removed from their frames, high resolution digital photos taken, any conservation work needed done and then they will be reframed and rehung in the corridor.
The images will then be used to interpret them to visitors and to create interpretation in the outdoors.
Nicholas Dall (d1777) did a number of oil paintings of Shugborough in the 1760s. These watercolours are the studies for the oil paintings.
Tower of the Winds, Shugborough – Moses Griffiths
Moses Griffiths (1747 – 1819) travelled with Thomas Pennant (a Welsh naturalist and travel writer) carrying out drawings and engravings during his tours of England, Wales and Scotland. Griffith’s work was used in Pennant’s publications.
Edward Jones (1752-1824) was a Welsh harpist and friend of Thomas Pennant and may have travelled with him and Griffiths to Shugborough.
This collection of watercolours by all three artists gives a pictorial record of the Mansion at Shugborough and the follies and monuments of the time. Some of these monuments are now lost, like the Cascade and the Palladian bridge. They give a vital glimpse into the landscape and house designed and created by Thomas Anson. They are especially important in our understanding of the development of the estate. The watercolours have been displayed in the Veranda Corridor for a long period of time. Due to their watercolour medium it is vital that they are conserved and recorded for future reference.
It is hoped that the watercolours can be conserved to make sure that they are cleaned and in acid-free mounts. Micro fading testing will also be carried out to understand how the watercolours may have faded over time. Then they will be photographed for future use in interpretation and better understanding of the pieces.
One of the watercolours by Moses Griffiths, which depicts the Chinese House, has already been photographed in high resolution. This image was incredibly useful in the understanding of the original design and decoration of the building as feint notes could be seen about building details and colours.
House and Collections Manager, Gemma Roberts
“We are extremely grateful to the Staffordshire Centre for this donation which will allow us to undertake vital conservation on these incredibly important pieces of the collection. We are excited to be able to perform some micro fading testing using new technology and working with the Knowle Conservation Studio. The high resolution images will enable us to share the evolution of Shugborough in picture form to our visitors for many years to come.”
Hayley Mival, General Manager
“It’s great to be able to tackle this really important conservation project at Shugborough, protecting paintings that show us how the parkland was designed to be, and especially wonderful to be able to do this through the ongoing support of the Staffordshire Centre”.
