The Art of Ashdown House by Nicola Cornick

 On the 25 August we were given a fascinating talk on the art of Ashdown House, a short distance from Swindon, by Nicola Cornick who has been a National Trust guide at the house for 20 years. Ashdown House was built as a hunting lodge in 1661-2, in 'blingy' white stone as a status symbol by Lord Craven who at one time was the richest man in England. He also had a fabulous portrait collection, a small core of which still remains at Ashdown House. I'll include the portraits I photographed from the computer screen, although I'm not sure who they represent. Fortunately we have a recording of the talk, and there are guided tours of the collection bookable on the website, Nicola is doing one tomorrow afternoon which I would very much like to have attended.

I think this is a portrait of Lord Craven above, and below the painting might be called 'Allegory of Love'. It was a posthumous portrait and shows symbols of love, loyalty and marriage

This might be Prince Richter of the Rhine who had 13 children

I will soon watch the recording of the talk and fill in the gaps
 Nicola Cornick is writer in residence at Ashdown House and is a best selling author, she has 2 days ago talked at Burford literary Festival!!