Treasures Of Woburn Abbey, A

Loan Exhibit At Grosvenor Fair

Privately Held  Paintings & Sculpture At

June 12–18 Art & Antiques Fair

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“View on the Grand Canal looking up to the Rialto Bridge from the Palazzo Corner Spinelli,” by Canaletto, 63 by 95 inches. Reproduced by kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates.

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TREASURES OF WOBURN ABBEY THE GROSVENOR HOUSE ART & ANTIQUES FAIR w/1 cut

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LONDON — Three magnificent Venetian views by Canaletto and a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds are among the highlights of a unique loan exhibition, “Treasures from Woburn Abbey,” from one of Britain’s most historic stately homes, that will be at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair, June 12–18.

The Duke of Bedford, whose family, named Russell, has lived at Woburn in Bedfordshire since 1619, has agreed to lend paintings, sculpture, silver, Sevres porcelain and furniture for display at the art and antiques fair where 85 leading international dealers will exhibit. They include many not normally seen by visitors to the abbey.

The most passionate art collector of the Russell family was John, the Fourth Duke, who visited Venice while on the Grand Tour in 1731. He commissioned Canaletto to paint a group of 24 Venetian views that originally hung in the family’s London home, but which were transferred to Woburn when the former was demolished in 1800.

Three of these are among the highlights of the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair loan exhibition, as are two other works of art in the loan exhibition. The Fourth Duke’s son, Francis, Marquess of Tavistock, married Lady Elizabeth Keppel, daughter of the Earl of Albemarle. Her circle of friends included the Eighteenth Century artist Sir Joshua Reynolds, who painted two portraits of Francis still in Woburn’s collection.

One of these has been loaned to the Grosvenor House exhibition, along with an Eighteenth Century bronze statuette of Samson and the Philistine, acquired by Francis on the Grand Tour, and which Reynolds used as a prop in the portrait.

A reception in support of the Venice in Peril fund will be held at the fair on June 17, 6:30 to 9 pm. Tickets cost $150 per person and include a copy of the fair’s 320-page hardbound handbook. The Venice in Peril fund was created after the great flood of 1966 and since then has disbursed millions of dollars for restoration work.

The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair and “Treasures of Woburn Abbey” are at the Great Room, Grosvenor House, Park Lane. For more information, +44 0 20 7399 8100 or www.grosvenor-antiquesfair.co.uk.