The State Bedchamber

This was the second-best bedroom at Beningbrough and was perhaps used by John Bouchier himself. The carving of the overdoor surrounds and the frieze, the latter featuring masks of the four seasons, is among the most adventurously three-dimensional in the house.

The state bed is a superb example of the early eighteenth-century upholsterer's craft. The crimson damask pelmets over the windows were made by the same craftsman to complement the bed, turning the room into a unified decorative ensemble in typical Baroque fashion. At that period such beds were powerful status symbols. They were often the most important piece of furniture in a house, sometimes costing more than all the other contents put together.
Among the portraits is Handel's patron, the Duke of Chandos. This is the surviving part of a double portrait showing the Duke being painted by his wife; her portrait is lost but her foot and her easel and canvas can still be made out at the right.

Download In focus: State Bedchamber Suite

Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery on display:

John Locke
1632-1704
Philosopher
by John Greenhill
circa 1672-1676
oil on canvas, oval
22 1/8 in. x 18 1/2 in. (562 mm x 470 mm)
NPG 3912

John Dryden
1631-1700
Dramatist and Poet Laureate
by James Maubert
circa 1695
oil on canvas
22 1/2 in. x 19 3/4 in. (572 mm x 502 mm)
NPG 1133

William Congreve
1670-1729
Dramatist
studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt
(1709)
oil on canvas, feigned oval
30 in. x 24 1/2 in. (762 mm x 622 mm)
NPG 67

James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos
1674-1744
Patron of the arts
by Herman Van der Myn
before 1726
oil on canvas
68 5/8 in. x 48 3/4 in. (1743 mm x 1238 mm)
NPG 530 

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 22 November 2008