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Path: Blog > Wellington and Apsley House
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Wellington and Apsley House

 

(vero;2022-Oct-13)

The 1st Duke of Wellington. Painting by Francisco Goya 1812-1814, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Apsley House is the London town house of the Dukes of Wellington. It is a Georgian mansion built between 1771 and 1777 by the 2nd Earl of Bathurst (known as Lord Apsley), and was the first house to be built north of the famous Picadilly, earning it the nickname "Number 1, London". Apsley House in 1829. The main gateway to Hyde Park can be glimpsed on the left. Painting by TH Shepherd, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.It is now located at a most fashionable address: Hyde Park Corner. The house changed ownership in 1807 when Richard, Marquess of Wellesley bought it from the 3rd Earl and furnished it after a complete makeover; but alas… the Marquess had poorly calculated and went bankrupt.

And it was his younger brother Arthur who bailed him out by buying the house… But who was Arthur to have so much money? Well… no other than the one who brought Napoléon down on his knees in Waterloo!

Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), a seasoned military man, was noticed during his service in India, and had become famous following his role as a general during the Iberian campaign of the Napoleonic wars (1808-1814). He was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after having led the allied forces to victory against the armies of the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813 and he was the one who ejected Joseph Bonaparte from the throne of Spain. He fought the French relentless and after Napoléon's exile to the island of Elba in 1814 was ennobled and received the title of Duke of Wellington. The rest is history: he commanded the allied army during the Hundred Days after Napoléon returned from Elba and with the German Blücher defeated the French Emperor in Waterloo. Wellington's military achievements are exemplary: he participated in sixty battles during his military career.

After his resounding victory in Waterloo, the Parliament granted £700,000 to the new national hero so that he could build himself a new "Waterloo palace". This ennobling and this generous financial mane reminded us strongly of what had happened to John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, after he defeated Louis XIV in 1704 (read our blog article to know more). It is the same logic: the grateful nation rewarding largely its hero followed by the birth of an influential lineage, this time the one of the Wellingtons (we count nowadays the 9th of the name, still involved in politics and an hereditary lord).

However, instead of embarking on the construction of a new palace as John Churchill did with Blenheim, Arthur decided to submit an anonymous offer to buy Apsley House from his brother. He paid £40,000, 5 % of his endowment, keeping the rest to enlarge Apsley House and make it a home befitting his new status, the ideal mean to establish himself in the highest ranks of the society of the time; and it worked perfectly. He was involved in politics, was a deputy, occupied the post of Prime Minister in 1828, sat in the House of the Lords and was commander-in-chief of the British army until his death in Walmer Castle, Kent.

But back to Apsley House: the upper floor is still occupied by the Wellingtons (the 9th Duke resides when he is in session at the Chamber of Lords among others), but the ground floor and the 1st floor have been transformed into a museum managed by English Heritage. There are no furniture in the rooms open to the public but they contain a multitude of works of art. Napoléon as Mars the peacemaker (1806); Statue by the Italian artist Antonio Canova, © CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.A large part of the collection comes from Wellesley's Iberian campaign: Napoléon is well known for having plundered the works of art from the countries he occupied. And the same is true for the British. When Wellesley evicted Joseph Bonaparte, he made a point of recovering all the works of art that the French were trying to take out of the country in their flight to France. This is why the collection contains so many works by Velásquez, Ribera, Murillo, Goya and Riberá; Wellington offered to restore the Spanish paintings to the King of Spain Ferdinand VI but it was refused and so they still adorn the walls of Apsley House. The Duke later enlarged his collection by acquiring works of Brueghel, Maes, Jan Steen, Titien, Rubens, Van Dyck or Caravaggio to name a just a few; the works of art presented nowadays in London are worthy of the greatest museums.

And then there is the rest.… Again, there are similarities with Blenheim. Just as Blenheim is full of objects relating to Louis XIV, Apsley House is full of Napoleonic and Waterloo memorabilia. I would divide them into two categories:

First category: Waterloo

Second category: Napoléon

Click on this link for some highlights of the Wellington's Collection.

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Want to read more? Go back to Eltham the Courtauld's Way or go on to Blenheim Palace: the English answer to Versailles? or go up to Blog


$ updated from: Blog.htxt Fri 16 Aug 2024 15:40:15 trvl2 — Copyright © 2024 Vero and Thomas Lauer unless otherwise stated | All rights reserved $