Enfilade

Grotto at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire. Originally a Cistercian abbey, Woburn became the seat of the Russell family and the Dukes of Bedford in the 16th century. The house was rebuilt in the early 17th century, with a second rebuilding undertaken in the mid-18th century to designs by Henry Flitcroft and John Sanderson. The Grotto is one of the few surviving 17th-century shellwork rooms in Britain.

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From the Rijksmuseum:

Matthew Hirst | The Transformation of Woburn Abbey

Daniel Marot Lecture, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 16 September 2025

Matthew Hirst will speak about the restoration and refurbishment of Woburn Abbey, home of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, and one of the great historic treasure houses of Britain.

In November 2019 Woburn Abbey closed to visitors to undergo a generational programme of restoration and refurbishment which will ensure the survival of this remarkable house and collection for centuries to come. Works are still underway—the house has undergone a transformation—and when it reopens the collections, much of which will have been conserved, will be redisplayed to dramatic effect. The new presentation will showcase the history and development of Woburn Abbey from monastic times to the present day. Matthew will highlight some of the changes that can be expected, in particular the renaissance of the Grotto Apartment, a suite of three rooms from the early 17th century created for the 4th Earl of Bedford. He will also share some of the more intriguing discoveries that have been made along the way and give a flavour of what can be expected when the Abbey reopens to the public.

Matthew Hirst is Curator of the Woburn Abbey Collection. He began his career at Waddesdon Manor. In 2007 he took up the new post of Head of Arts & Historic Collections for the Devonshire Collections, managing a major conservation programme and the representation of many of the historic interiors at Chatsworth. In 2015 Matthew moved to Woburn Abbey, and has since researched and developed a major representation and restoration of the house, marking the largest programme of works at the Abbey since it opened to the public in 1955. Matthew is also a trustee of the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust and the Leche Trust.

Every year, the Daniel Marot Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund organises the Daniel Marot Lecture, which provides a podium for a national or international expert in the field of interior history and applied art.

West front, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire.

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From Woburn:

Much work has been completed including the project to reinstate and restore the curtain walls that enclose the Great Court to the rear of the Abbey. These impressive structures were in a state of decay due to the nature the stone used to build them in the eighteenth century. Following a lengthy planning process they have now been completely rebuilt, using Portland stone and traditional materials with modern engineering.

The curtain walls project is just one aspect of our current programme of works. Dramatic changes to the guest arrival are now underway, and thanks to a grant from Historic England, we have restored the east range of the North Court and reinstated the original roofline, not seen since it was destroyed by fire in 1947.

Guided both by rigorous research and the requirements of modern family life, the Abbey’s interiors are being conserved and re-presented, underpinned by essential services work and using traditional materials and methods.

Major highlights of our conservation programme include the restoration of Issac de Caus’s 17th-century Grotto with the famous shell-lined interior at its centre. A remarkable survival through successive architectural change, this fantastical room is unique and will be at the heart of the home, serving as the new guest entrance.

For the first time in over 250 years and following a five-year conservation programme, the Mortlake Tapestries will hang once again in the room for which they were commissioned by the 5th Earl of Bedford, and elsewhere wall-finishes will be recreated from historic evidence. The Long Gallery and the family’s Dining Room, with its famous collection of Venetian paintings by Canaletto, will be redecorated to reflect the taste of the present generation, informed and guided by the past.

From the York Georgian Society:

Celebration of the York Georgian Society’s 2024 Nuttgens Award Winners:

Charlotte Goodge and Constance Halstead

York Medical Society, 18 June 2025, 6pm

Organised by Jemima Hubberstey, Charles Martindale, and Moira Fulton

York Georgian Society is delighted to host two talks given by our 2024 Nuttgens Award Winners: Constance Halstead and Charlotte Goodge. The event will start with a drinks reception in the garden of York Medical Society (weather permitting). Then in the Lecture Room, Professor Mary Fairclough (University of York) will give an introduction, followed by our award winners who will deliver two short talks. It will be a wonderful opportunity to network with other members of the Society and hear exciting new research in eighteenth-century studies. Current students at the University of York also have the chance to learn more about the Nuttgens Award and how the York Georgian Society supports early-career research. Ticket are £15 for members, £25 non-members, and free for students who book in advance. Booking is available here; please note that ticket purchase and free ticket registration must be done separately. In case of any questions, please email jemimahubberstey@hotmail.co.uk.

Charlotte Goodge | Colonial Strategies for Disempowerment and the ‘Deformed’ Mammae of Khoekhoe Mothers

Dr Charlotte Goodge submitted and successfully defended her AHRC-funded PhD thesis in December 2024. Her interdisciplinary doctoral research broadly examines the cultural constructedness of female fatness in the period, demonstrating that both the real-life and the fictional fat female figure was variously used as a vehicle through which ideologies of femininity, class hierarchy, and civilisation were reinforced. Charlotte has held fellowships at the Huntington Library (2023) and Chawton House (2021) and was recently awarded the ASECS Race & Empire Caucus’s Graduate Student Essay Prize (2024). Her work has been published in The Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2023), Eighteenth-Century Life (2025), and in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture (2025). This talk will explore the way in which eighteenth-century European commentators and travel writers depicted Khoekhoe mothers and their breastfeeding practices in South Africa.

Constance Halstead | ‘Surely It Was Not Platonic’: Anne Lister’s Queer Account of the Ladies of Llangollen

Constance Halstead is a second year PhD student at the University of York’s Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, where her research is funded by the Sally Wainwright Scholarship for the Study of Anne Lister. Her thesis, titled “Telling ‘All as It Really Is’: Form and Formation in Anne Lister’s Manuscript and Digitised Journal,” offers a literary study of Lister’s journal. It focuses on Lister’s generic, material, and textual negotiation of eighteenth-century traditions of diary writing. Constance completed her BA at the University of Oxford and MLitt at the University of St Andrews.

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The Nuttgens Award is named in honour of Patrick Nuttgens (1930–2004). A well-known and warmly remembered figure, both locally and nationally, Nuttgens was founding director of the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies within the University of York and successively served as secretary, chairman, and president of the York Georgian Society. The Nuttgens Award was first offered in 2008, the result of a fruitful collaboration between York Georgian Society and the University of York. It provides a grant of £500 to be awarded annually to two PhD students researching any aspect of the Georgian period.

From the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, as noted by The Decorative Arts Trust:

Penn Dry Goods Market Textile Lecture Series

Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, 16–17 May 2025

Image: Deborah Simmons Coates quilt detail, 1840s–1850s, Lancaster History — to be discussed in Mariah Kupfner’s talk.

The Penn Dry Goods Market Textile Lecture Series offers a chance to hear nationally recognized authorities in textile history on a broad range of topics—from embroidered hand towels to Appalachian weaving, from quilts to samplers, and from Scandinavian American and African American traditions. All lectures require a ticket ($25/lecture prepaid or $30 at door). Each ticket also provides access to the Penn Dry Goods Market antique show.

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8.45am  ‘This is the Way I Pass My Time’: Mennonite Hand Towels from Eastern Pennsylvania — Joel Alderfer (Collections Manager, Mennonite Heritage Center)

10.00  Colonialism, Power, and Identity: Fashion in American Portraits, 1670–1840 — Lynne Bassett (Independent scholar, curator, and author)

12.45  Heritage Craft, Community, and Continuity among Scandinavian Americans — Josh Brown (Skwierczynski University Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and folk weaver)

2.00  Pennsylvania German Quilt Turning: 40 Examples from Both Sides of the Susquehanna — Debby Cooney (Independent quilt scholar)

3.15  Hidden in Plain Sight: Uncovering the Samplers of Black Girls — Lynne Anderson (President of the Sampler Consortium and Director of the Sampler Archive Project)

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8.45am  A Usable Past: American Hand-Weaving Revival in Appalachia, 1892–1940 — Matthew Monk (Linda Eaton Associate Curator of Textiles, Winterthur)

10.00  Pennsylvania German Quilt Turning: 40 Examples from Both Sides of the Susquehanna — Debby Cooney (Independent quilt scholar)

11.15  ‘So Intimately Are We Connected’: Antislavery Textiles and the Weight of Cotton — Mariah Kupfner (Assistant Professor of American Studies and Public Heritage, School of Humanities, Penn State Harrisburg)

12.45  The Joys of Tape Weaving as Viewed through the Eleanor Bittle Collection — Johannes Zinzendorf and Zephram de Colebi (The Mahantongo Heritage Center at the Hermitage)

2.00  A Legacy in Thread: Schoolgirl Needlework and Female Education in Dutchess County, New York — Stacy Whittaker (Independent needlework scholar)

3.15  The Quilt That Never Was: Solving the Mystery of the Inscribed Great Valley Quilt Blocks — Charlene Bongiorno Stephens and William Stephens (Independent quilt scholars)

This AFA lecture is free and open to the public:

Wolf Burchard | Louis XIV’s Savonnerie Carpets: The World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle

American Friends of Attingham Albainy Memorial Lecture

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 22 May 2025, 6pm

Wolf Burchard, Antonin Macé de Lepinay, and Elizabeth Cleland examine the Tapis Grande Galerie du Louvre, preserved by the Mobilier national in Paris, in 2023 (Photo by Justine Rossignol).

‘The King’s Carpet’, or le tapis du roi, was an enormous rug made up of 92 individual pieces that were intended to cover the entire span of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre, six times the length of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Despite the monumental expense and energy lavished on this spectacular royal commission, Louis XIV appears never to have used the carpets. With time, the notion of ‘one’ carpet was forgotten and individual pieces were given away, some finding their way into the homes of English and American collectors, most notably the Rothschilds, Vanderbilts, and Wrightsmans. The altered and dispersed carpets thus became an enormous jigsaw puzzle, which Emmanuelle Federspiel and Antonin Macé de Lepinay of the Mobilier national in Paris, and Wolf Burchard of The Met in New York, are reconstructing, carpet by carpet, fragment by fragment.

Please join AFA as we welcome Dr. Wolf Burchard as the esteemed speaker for this Tracey L. Albainy Memorial Lecture, co-hosted by the American Friends of Attingham and The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. The AFA is delighted to welcome the public to this complimentary program, held in the Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall at The Met. Registration is available here.

Tracey L. Albainy (1962–2007) served as Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She was a devoted Attingham supporter, completing multiple courses.

Wolf Burchard is Curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and was recently appointed a Trustee of the Attingham Trust. He earned his MA and PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and is the author of The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV (2016). He curated the exhibition Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts (2021) shown at The Met, The Wallace Collection, and The Huntington.

This month at BGC:

Meredith Martin | Unpacking the Choiseul Box

An Iris Foundation Awards Lecture

Bard Graduate Center, New York, 22 April 2025

Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe (miniaturist; 1716–1794) and Louis Roucel (goldsmith; ca. 1756–1787), tabatière Choiseul (Choiseul snuffbox), ca. 1770/71, gouache on vellum, assembled in an architectural gold setting, 8 × 6 × 2.4 cm (Paris: Louvre).

This interactive lecture will explore the famous Choiseul snuffbox, a tiny but extraordinary monument of the eighteenth century that features views of the Parisian mansion and art collection of the Duc de Choiseul, foreign minister to Louis XV. The snuffbox, or tabatière, became a cause célèbre in France in 2023 when it was offered for sale to the tune of nearly four million euros. The Louvre launched a massive public campaign to raise funds to acquire the box and published a scholarly tome dedicated to giving readers “all the keys you still need to unlock the secrets of this highly prized tabatière.” And yet in all the recent literature around this object, no mention has been made of its deep, unsettling connections to colonialism and enslavement at the level of material, iconography, patronage, and use. This talk will seek to ‘unpack’ this box and will invite attendees to confront its materiality and multisensory dimensions through digital reconstructions produced in collaboration with Bard Graduate Center’s digital humanities team.

Meredith Martin is a professor of art history at New York University and a founding editor of Journal18. A specialist in early modern French art and empire, she is the coauthor (with Gillian Weiss) of the prizewinning book The Sun King at Sea: Maritime Art and Galley Slavery in Louis XIV’s France (Getty, 2022; French edition 2022), which is related to an exhibition that she and Dr. Weiss are co-curating for the Institut du monde arabe in Paris. Martin is also the author of Dairy Queens: The Politics of Pastoral Architecture from Catherine de’ Medici to Marie-Antoinette (Harvard, 2011), and a coauthor of Meltdown: Picturing the World’s First Bubble Economy (2020), which is related to an exhibition she co-curated for the New York Public Library. Together with Phil Chan, Martin reimagined and restaged a lost French ballet from 1739 known as the Ballet des Porcelaines, which premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021 and was performed throughout the US and Europe in 2022. She is currently working on a multimedia collaborative project called Colonial Networks, which explores links between Haiti/Saint-Domingue and the Paris art world during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

28th Annual Iris Foundation Awards — In 1997 Susan Weber created the Iris Foundation Awards to recognize scholars, patrons, and professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. Meredith Martin will receive the Iris Award for Outstanding Mid-Career Scholar on April 23 at the Cosmopolitan Club. This year’s other recipients are Irene Roosevelt Aitken (Outstanding Patron), Julius Bryant (Outstanding Lifetime Achievement), and Katherine Purcell (Outstanding Dealer). Proceeds benefit the Bard Graduate Center Scholarship Fund.