Collection items inspired by romance

Detail of the highly decorated ceiling of the Boudoir, attributed to Louis-Andre Delabriere at Attingham Park, Shropshire — Decorated ceiling of the Boudoir at Attingham Park, Shropshire | © National Trust Images/James Mortimer

Many of the places in our care have collection items which have been inspired by the emotional highs and lows of love. From paintings to ceramics and sculptures, find out more about the art and objects that have connections to romance.

Throughout history, artists and designers have been drawn to all areas of the romantic world – the tales of doomed lovers, the unrequited passion and the uplifting romances of true love are reflected in so many artworks, including a number from the collections we look after.

Tales of romance

A marble portrait head of Antinous, which probably belonged to a statue, facing forwards and with thick untidy hair. — Roman bust of Antinous at Petworth House, West Sussex | © National Trust/Andrew Fetherston

Ancient love

Antinous is known as the lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. In AD 130, on an imperial tour of Egypt, Antinous drowned in the River Nile and Hadrian mourned and celebrated him on a massive scale. The Roman emperor founded a new city Antinoopolis, in his honour, and the lover's face was depicted on many sculptures, coins and busts, like this example at Petworth House in West Sussex.

Love among The Ruins

The title of this painting by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833–1898) was taken from an 1855 poem by Robert Browning, but it's not a direct illustration of the text. Instead it possibly depicts Poliphilo and Polia, characters in an early Venetian romance called the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. The painting is part of the Bearsted collection at Upton House and Gardens, Warwickshire, but has been on display at Wightwick Manor in the West Midlands.

Part of an early 18th C. Chinese porcelain blue and white globular teapot and cover painted with figures in a landscape scene from the Romance of the Western Chamber — Chinese porcelain blue and white globular teapot at Erdigg, Wrexham | © National Trust/Susanne Gronnow

A Chinese romance

A Chinese porcelain teapot at Erddig in Wrexham, shows an episode from the play The Romance of the Western Chamber. The story is of Zhang Sheng, a poor scholar, and Cui Yingying, the daughter of the Prime Minister, who fell in love without their families’ approval. The scene shows Yingying in a garden at night waiting for her lover.

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Tokens of love

From a king to his mistress

Legend has it that a silver, heart-shaped locket at Moseley Old Hall in Staffordshire was a present from Charles II to one of his mistresses. Dating to around 1660, the locket contains a portrait of the king and is engraved with the words, ‘Cvpid's dart posses yovr hart’.

A mother's gift

An anthology of Italian poetry at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent was a gift to Vita Sackville-West from her mother, Victoria in 1911. The ornate leather binding features heart decorations and inside there is a heart-shaped leather label with an inscription from mother to daughter. It's one of several beautifully bound books given to Vita by her mother.

A sailor's valentine

A colourful mosaic of intricately arranged seashells at Basildon Park in Berkshire is a charming example of a sailor's valentine. Made primarily by women in Barbados in the 19th century, these souvenirs were sold to British and American sailors as last-minute mementoes to take home after long journeys at sea.

Visions of romance

Landscape with Antique Ruins and Figures by Pierre Patel at Wallington, Northumberland | © National Trust Images

Romantic ruins

In the 18th century, as ancient sites were being rediscovered and reappraised, ruins that were both real and imaginary became a staple of landscape painting. A picture at Wallington in Northumberland by Pierre Patel the elder depicts classical ruins bathed in evening light, inviting spectators to reflect on transience and decay.

Wrapped in love

With its pastel shades and delicate decoration, the boudoir at Attingham Park in Shropshire is the embodiment of femininity and romance. A series of roundels, attributed to French artist Louis-André Delabrière and showing scenes on the theme of love, adorn the elaborate domed ceiling.

The State Bed designed by Robert Adam in 1776 in the State Bedchamber at Osterley Park, Middlesex — The State Bed designed by Robert Adam at Osterley Park, London | © National Trust Images/Dennis Gilbert

A temple to Venus

A sumptuous bed in the state bedroom at Osterley Park in London, is the work of architect and interior designer Robert Adam (1728–1792). Lavishly carved, partly gilded and festooned with rich drapery, the design was conceived as a temple of Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

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Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that shifted away from the Enlightenment’s focus on reason and instead emphasised the importance of emotion and imagination. In Romantic art, nature, with its uncontrollable power, unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremes offered an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought.

Storm and Avalanche by Philip James de Loutherbourg at Petworth House in West Sussex embodies this approach. It depicts a fast-moving avalanche and captures the vulnerability of humans caught in the throes of nature.

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The Storm and Avalanche painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg — Storm and Avalanche by Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1804, at Petworth House and Park, West Sussex | © National Trust Images/Derrick E. Witty

Love across the divide

Anne 'Nanette' Hawkins

Known as the isolated baronet, Sir Harry Harpur of Calke Abbey in Derbyshire was painfully shy, shutting himself off from society and even giving his servants orders by letter. He found happiness in 1792, marrying Nanette Hawkins, but as she was a lady’s maid and not a member of the aristocracy the marriage caused a scandal. A watercolour of Nanette is in the collection at Calke Abbey.

See Nanette's portrait

La Baccelli

When Italian dancer Giovanna Zanerini, nicknamed La Baccelli, became lover to John Frederick Sackville, the third Duke of Dorset, he had a life-size plaster statue made of her. After the pair separated and John married, the statue was discretely moved to a less prominent position at Knole in Kent, and rechristened A Naked Venus.

Two historical garments hanging on mannequins

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