Q&A: "Chatsworth House and Its Collections" -- A Virtual Discussion with the Duke of Devonshire

Extended answers from the Duke of Devonshire, speaker from “Chatsworth House and Its Collections - A Conversation between the Duke of Devonshire and Jay Robert Stiefel”  (Click here to watch)

Question: You inherited this magnificent house, built centuries ago, and you and your family have stewarded it so wonderfully. But if you could build a house of similar scale and magnitude today from scratch, in the 21st century, what would your house look like? How would you design it?
Answer: It would be completely contemporary in architecture and design, as sustainable as possible but we would continue to display old as well as new works of art and design. The new house would of course be open to visitors and that would be a major part of the architect's brief. 

Question: Did they collect any items from Spanish America?
Answer: Nothing specifically acquired, not an area historically visited.

Question: I possess 3 out of four double volumes of the Harleian Miscellanies. They possess the 7th Duke's bookplate, but earlier had belonged to the great Henry Cavendish, one of the greatest intellectuals of the 18th century. But where is the fourth double volume? Still at Chatsworth?    
Answer: (From Fran Baker - Head Librarian, Chatsworth) This work is normally in eight volumes so I assume the enquirer simply means that Henry Cavendish’s copy was brought together into four larger vols. We have the 8-volume 1st edition of this in the Library; it has a Chiswick bookplate. There are a couple of letters from Duchess Georgiana dating from 1798 which indicate that she acquired this – it seems it was already hard to get hold of by that time – and the Chiswick bookplate would also make sense if she purchased it. 

We’ve got no record of having another copy, and the 8-volume set we still have is the only one listed in the 1879 Library catalogue. If Henry Cavendish’s set left the collection (presumably at some point between 1858 and 1879 if it has a 7th Duke bookplate) it would have been odd just to retain one volume anyway – certainly if it was sold, which I guess it could have been as a ‘duplicate’. Anyway, wherever the fourth volume is, I’m fairly sure it’s not here. 

Question: Where does scientist Henry Cavendish fit in the family history?    
Answer: Although one of the leading scientists of his time he is less known than he deserves to be as his discoveries and research were very rarely published in his lifetime due to his extreme shyness.

Question: Your Grace, your mother did much to rehabilitate and renovate various garden settings at Chatsworth, as you are doing now. With climate change affecting gardens in unexpected yet consequential ways, how are sensitive spaces at Chatsworth such as the Azalea Dell doing? Have the blooming times changed in noticeable ways?    
Answer: Currently we are not seeing much impact on the health of established plantings, such as the Azalea Dell. Flowering times are changing but not necessarily in any kind of pattern, mild winters and early Spring and often bringing things forward or causing sporadic flowering, and then this year a very late hard frost caused damage and delayed some blooms.

However climatic changes are influencing our thinking and planting for the future, planting in Autumn rather than Spring to avoid plants drying out and requiring extensive watering is now accepted. Also planting species more tolerant of waterlogging in some areas and extended dry periods in others is important, for example Beech that we have seen thrive over hundreds of years are now not happy in exposed positions where their shallow roots may dry out.

Question: Why has his Grace chosen not to go into politics? And is his son following that non-path?    
Answer: In my youth I was not inspired by either political party and I believe that my son will answer in a similar way. 

Question: How large of a staff is needed to maintain the house and gardens?    
Answer: The staff here at Chatsworth both directly and indirectly care for the house and gardens, whether they be skilled tradespeople, switchboard operators or staff welcoming our visitors. In 2019 we had 120 full time and 240 part time posts and over 170 volunteers. 

Question: Can his Grace tell us about any other contemporary artists he is interested in? And I know his son is a photographer and has done much to build the photography collection.    
Answer: We have a number of artist friends including Endellion Lycett Green, Tarka Kings, and Michael Craig-Martin amongst others and we keep well up to date with their exhibitions and outputs. 

Question: Would you please repeat the name of the Japanese silversmith who created the set you shared earlier?    
Answer: Hiroshi Suzuki 

Question: Are the collections all housed in the main building or have they become so vast that they have to be stored off-site?    
Answer: Mostly all are stored within the house with the exceptions of some furniture and costume from the 19th to 21st C. We are exploring off site storage but with a view to offering more access to researching the archives and some of the least often displayed and complex collections such as textiles and works on paper. 

Question: What in your view is the greatest pleasure in living in one’s family’s ancient country house?    
Answer: Being able to welcome so many visitors from all around the world to share this extraordinary place. 

Question: Might he speak more about his father? He was an elected member of the APS.    
Answer: My father enabled Chatsworth to remain an independent entity despite having to pay 80% capital tax up on his father’s death in 1950. He was also a tremendous supported of hundreds of charitable organisations especially in Derbyshire. 

Question: Follow-up on the question about building your own house: what architect or architects would you choose?    
Answer: We would do a very in-depth search amongst architects who have designed contemporary houses that work rather than just look wonderful and this would have to be an international search. 

Question: How has the "Fragrance" changed over the years? 
Answer: We used to burn coal in the open fires and now we only burn wood and that makes a significant difference to the fragrance. I also burn incense in the chapel and this fragrance travels down the adjacent passages and at Christmas time there is a strong perfume of pine from the many Christmas trees throughout the house. 

Question: Can you share some of yours and Amanda’s specific thoughts/visions/dreams as to potential additions over the next twenty years to the grounds and to the house?    
Answer: We are always on the lookout for contemporary work, particularly sculpture and interesting seating in the garden. We would love to install a sound installation. Indoors, I am sure there will be additions to the ceramic collection and more contemporary furniture. 

Question: When you visit Chatsworth, what parts do you get to see?    
Answer: A large portion of the house at Chatsworth is open to visitors and you follow a circuitous route through the ground floor reception rooms and then up to the State Rooms via the 19th Century guest bedrooms and then into the North Wing. Besides the house, there is 105 acres of managed gardens and c.400 hectares of parkland, all surrounded by the beautiful Peak District.

Question: After the demolition of Devonshire House, how did your family decide to integrate surviving paintings, furniture and other collections from there, into Chatsworth? Did it reflect any differences in strategy between a London town house and the main family seat?    
Answer: A lot of the principle paintings would move with the family to which ever was their main residence. At the time that Devonshire House was sold it had been unoccupied by the family for at least 5 years as the house was used by the Red Cross during the First World War. There are notes that when the family moved to another London property in Carlton Gardens in 1923 they bought down paintings from Chatsworth and Hardwick, their Derbyshire property. These same paintings appear back at Chatsworth after the 2nd World War which shows moving these art works was not uncommon and quite a practical matter. 

Question: Many important private American art collections are the result famous collaborations between collectors and their advisors, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner and Berenson. Are there any advisors of note in the history of Chatsworth or has it most often been members of the family working directly with the artist, designer, or architect?    
Answer: 2nd Duke had people helping him acquire paintings within Europe but 6th Duke worked directly with the architects and builders. He would have had personal recommendations. By and large my ancestors, parents and parents-in-law didn't use advisors, although of course they were often offered items by artists directly and dealers. Jonathan Bourne has helped us particular regarding acquisition of furniture. 

Question: Who made that humorous little sculpture behind Jay?
Answer: (From Jay Stiefel) The sculpture, “Just Scratching the Surface,” is by Ann Chahbandour and may be found under “bronze” on her website: https://annchahbandour.com/