Isabella reporting,
When most of us decide to part with extra stuff around the house for a little extra cash, we turn to the local second-hand shop, flea market, or garage sale. But if you're the family of the Earl of Carlisle and your house is Castle Howard, you turn to Sotheby's auction house.
As we've noted before here on the blog, maintaining an enormous English country house in the 21st century is an equally enormous challenge. No matter how beautiful the house may be or how rich in history: age, deferred maintenance, and the taxman will take their toll, requiring the noble families to turn to creative ways to make certain the houses survive. (See here for more about Ugbrooke Park, home of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh; St. Giles House, home of the Earl of Shaftsbury, and Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey), home of the Earl of Carnovan.)
Earlier this year, the Howard family sold nine of their family treasures at auction. No flyers on telephone poles for them - instead Sotheby's created this elegant video that offers a quick yet breathtaking tour of Castle Howard along with highlighting the pieces in the sale. Fans of the 80s version of Brideshead Revision (which was filmed at Castle Howard) will recognize the unmistakable voice of actor Jeremy Irons as the narrator.
If you'd like to read more about the Castle Howard and the famous family who has lived there, here's the post on the Sotheby's website. And if you're curious to learn the results of the sale, here's the overview, including the prices realized.
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9 comments:
Thank you for this video about Castle Howard - a place I'd like to visit !
Bravo for your very interesting blog - I'm going to "nose about" in your posts (I'm not sure of the verb, my mother language is French).
Isn't that Brideshead Revisited?
Grogeous! My favorite are the cabinets and the painting of Venice.
It hurts to see that they have to part with those lovely cabinets and pictures. But it keeps the house in the family, I suppose.
Nice video, lovely house! Does anyone else find it hilarious that Jeremy Irons is flogging merch for Southeby's!
Sotheby's chose Jeremy Irons for the voiceover because: 1. He is a trained actor known for his wonderful speaking voice. 2. He is closely associated with the house because he played one of the 2 main characters in Brideshead Revisited, which was shot at Castle Howard. Nothing amusing about that - makes perfect sense. It's certainly what I would expect.
It's completely appropriate for Jeremy Irons to do the voiceover. Many actors with professionally trained voices "flog merch."
Thanks for the post, Nerdy Girls! I enjoy all of your stuff!
It makes my head hurt just thinking about having the responsibility for maintaining that property.
I am one of many who were first introduced to Castle Howard via 'Brideshead.' What a beautiful place it is.
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