The return of a masterpiece to Tatton Park’s Collection by Caroline Schofield

For the Mansion Team the end of May brought with it the delivery of a very large packing case and a stressful but gratifying job! As you can imagine it isn’t every day that you move a great painting by the artist Van Dyck, but when the Mansion team welcomed his painting of The Martyrdom of St Stephen back to Tatton it was everyone to the ready. As you can imagine it isn’t every day that you move a great painting by the artist Van Dyck, but when the Mansion team welcomed his painting of The Martyrdom of St Stephen back to Tatton it was everyone to the ready. This internationally-important painting from the Tatton collection was being returned from a prestigious exhibition held at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London which ended on May 27.Iconic 17^th century painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599 – 1641) left his native Antwerp in 1621 for Italy to study the work of earlier Italian painters Titian, Veronese and others.

 During his travels he painted the portraits of the wealthy and powerful, becoming something of a celebrity as an artist. In spring 1624 he reached Palermo in Sicily. Not long after his arrival Sicily was struck by a violent outbreak of plague, and until recently it was believed that he left for safety. The exhibition, ‘Van Dyck in Sicily: Painting and the Plague 1624-1625’  explored newly-found evidence that he in fact remained on the plague-stricken island, and during his time there produced major paintings along religious themes, such as his St Rosalia in Glory and the Tatton St Stephen.
Van Dyck biographer Robin Blake said ‘Whether created in the heat of the epidemic, or as ex voto offerings after it was over, the paintings played a major role in the imagined drama of their city’s deliverance’.

Strange to think then that a painting produced on a Mediterranean island by the great master of 17^th century art should be wending its way home to a 19^th century English country house. According to records, in 1793 its interesting journey had taken it to the Church of San Pascual Bailon in Madrid, after which it was sold and imported into England by the dealer William Buchanan.

In 1814, when he was busy furnishing his fine new mansion at Tatton, Wilbraham Egerton acquired it for his collection from the Delahante sale at Phillips Auction house on 3^rd June, at a cost of 700 guineas. Since that time it has graced the drawing room at Tatton with its sombre beauty. Safely back in position the painting, measuring six feet by five feet, took the strength of seven people to lift back into place on the silk lined walls. As you can imagine lifting something extremely heavy, fragile and important to hang against delicate silk, battened to the walls some 100 years ago is a ‘bottle tester’, but with the aid of art handlers and the team everything went without a hitch. 

It is always a great honour for Tatton to be asked to contribute to major exhibitions, not only does it allow us to share access to our collection, but it also highlights the quality of the objects in our care and gives Cheshire a plug. Bringing together Van Dyck’s Sicilian works was a fantastic achievement by curator Xavier Salomon at Dulwich, but we are very glad to have St Stephen back. If you want to come and see the painting please do. Our team will be happy to show it to you.

Caroline