The South Drawing Room
The South Drawing Room was for a hundred years a dining room and now serves as a reception room. It contains some splendidly ornate and important furniture, much of it French, acquired by the First Earl Spencer for Spencer House in London. In this room are an outstanding collection of portrait paintings, by eminent artists including Reynolds, Gainsborough and Batoni.
Gorgina Poyntz, wife of the First Earl Spencer by Pompeo Batoni. She would have sat for the picture in Rome in 1753.
Georgina, Countess Spencer and daughter Lady Georgiana Spencer, Later Duchess of Devonshire by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Lavinia Bingham. Viscountess Althorp, 1882, by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Lady Anne Bingham, by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Furniture
- Louis XVI commode veneered with oriental lacquer with side shelves and Carrara marble top is by Claude-Charles Saunier, as are the pair of mahogany pier tables. Lord Spencer acquired this commode for the dining room at Spencer House through his architect Henry Holland and was supplied by Daguerre in Paris in 1791
- The George II giltwood mirror with palm design from probably the Music Room at Spencer House was designed by John Vardy. n Louis XV period writing table is stamped ILF Legry ME - or maître ebeniste, i.e. master woodworker.
- Writing desk given to Georgiana, Countess Spencer by her children and daughter-in-law in 1783-4, veneered with harewood and satin-wood, has the initials of the various children round the ovals in the upright part and is attributed to the cabinet maker John Taitt.
- Two library commodes are similar in design to a plate published by Thomas Chippendale in 1760, but may well have been by the firm of Gordon who supplied a lot of the seating and table furniture to the Spencers. They would have been placed back-to-back in the centre of the room, probably intended to be used in the Library for opening large books and maps. The sofa, bergères and chairs were found in the stables and are English, c.1780. The small gilt settee is however French, and probably dates from the following decade.
- Underneath the portrait of the Second Earl Spencer by Reynolds is a Parisian canopy lit à mechan-ique also supplied by Daguerre in 1791. The canopy was gilded in London together with a pair of broad armchairs and six backed stools which were made in London by François Hervé to match the canopy.
- The chimneypiece is significantly more decorated than in the Billiard Room, being mounted in ormolu, in Louis XVI style. Designed by Holland, it clearly shows his growing affnity for French detailing, and thus dates from his last work in the house in 1802.
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