A new exhibition at the Harley Foundation explores the remarkable stories behind one of the country’s most important private collections. The World’s Mine Oyster: Art, Nature and Collecting the Globe reveals the history and global connections of the Portland Collection, built up over more than 400 years by the Cavendish family and their descendants.
The Portland Collection is vast and varied, and exhibitions in its dedicated museum change every three years. Opening on 20th March, exactly 10 years after the gallery first opened to the public, this display will, for the first time, focus on the stories behind the objects themselves. Drawing on new research and previously untold histories, the exhibition explores how the Cavendish family viewed and used the natural world, both locally and across the globe.
At the heart of the exhibition is the newly restored A View of Antwerp, a three-metre-wide painting that has never previously been displayed publicly. Once believed to depict a generic city scene, recent conservation work and research have revealed that it records the arrival of Prince Ladislaus of Poland in Antwerp on 22nd September 1624. Packed with detail, the painting is thought to have been created collaboratively by several artists, although debate continues about their identities.
The display also highlights the women who played a major role in shaping the collection. Portraits of Bess of Hardwick; Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle; Margaret Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland; and Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland illustrate their influence. Among them was the first writer of science fiction, another who built Europe’s largest seashell collection, and another who championed animal welfare while married to a keen hunter. Their stories show how nature could represent beauty, study, wealth, philanthropy and power all at once.
Among the highlights are Madonna del Silenzio by Michelangelo (1538–1540), one of the most important works in the collection, accompanied by a new film exploring who it may have been created for. A cabinet of curiosities inspired by the Duchess of Portland’s famous museum brings together Roman cameos, books, paintings, natural history specimens and a jewel-encrusted dagger once believed to have belonged to Henry VIII.
Other notable pieces include a shoehorn engraved with the Cavendish arms dating from 1594, one of the oldest items in the collection; a portrait of Margaret Cavendish by Sir Peter Lely from 1665; and striking animal paintings by John Wootton depicting a brown wolf and an antelope, possibly painted from life.
The World’s Mine Oyster: Art, Nature and Collecting the Globe is open until 8th April 2029 and entry is free. More information can be found at http://www.harleyfoundation.org.uk.