'Under Italian skies,' the 6th Duke of Devonshire, Canova and the formation of the sculpture gallery at Chatsworth House

Abstract

The passion for marble shown by William Spencer Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858) and its manifestation in his sculpture gallery at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire is a spectacular example of Anglo-Italian cultural exchange. During the Duke's lifetime his collection was widely recognised for its outstanding quality and by the spring of 1834, when the gallery was finished and furbished, Chatsworth housed arguably the most important collection of contemporary sculpture in the country. The pursuit of pleasure, one that was intimately tied to his love of Italy, motivated the Duke's creation of this elite space. This is evident in diary entries composed whilst he was both conceiving and realising his grand plan for 'improvements' at Chatsworth during the 1820s and '30s and, at the same time, amassing major poetic sculptures sourced from Roman studios. In the summer of 1823 having arrived at Chatsworth from London he wrote of the initial work on the north wing then taking place, 'great progress made here, how I love this place.' An indicator of the enjoyment gained from this activity is also found in his itemising of 'good' and 'bad' events that concluded each year's journal, as well as throughout the entries written whilst he was in residence there. 'My happiness at Chatsworth,' he observed a decade later, when his new sculpture gallery was nearly completed and the work of setting his sculptural treasures in its interior was beginning, 'is quite different from anywhere else' Time spent in Derbyshire during the summer and autumn months often evoked Italy for him: 'Meeting in hot Italian weather' and 'Italian sky here' he noted during the summer of 1832 and, the following year during a period of particularly brilliant autumn weather, 'The finest Italian day true Chatsworth summer.