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Wrest Park Seeks Lost Family Portraits by Frederic Leighton
20 May
Summary
- Charity seeks three missing 19th-century portraits by Frederic Leighton.
- The paintings depict children of the 6th Earl and Countess Cowper.
- Two of five original portraits have been returned to Wrest Park.
A charity overseeing the historic Wrest Park in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, has initiated a search for three lost family portraits. These 19th-century paintings, created by the renowned Victorian artist Frederic Leighton in 1862, are part of a larger series of five. They uniquely capture the children of the 6th Earl and Countess Cowper, who resided at Wrest Park.
English Heritage curator Peter Moore described the missing artworks as "fragments of Wrest Park's lost story," representing the last generation to know the manor as their childhood home. The appeal for information follows the recent return of two other portraits from the series, depicting Hon Henry Frederick Cowper and Lady Florence Amabel Cowper, on loan from private descendants.
These two recently returned paintings have been loaned by descendants of Nan Cooper (née Herbert), daughter of Lady Florence. Cooper was instrumental in transforming Wrest Park into a hospital during World War One. Moore emphasized the emotional significance of these portraits, noting they "speak to a moment of family intimacy that was later overshadowed by war, loss and dispersal."
