The Queen of Ightam Mote

Fascinating exhibition at Ightham Mote looking at a period in the house’s history when it was rented by Queen Palmer, the wife of an American railway engineer who founded Colorado Springs.

I’ve visited Ightham Mote a lot but they have never featured this family before. They have done it this year partly because of a campaign to buy John Singer Sargent’s picture of them playing bowls on the lawn at Ightham which is on display along with his portrait of the daughter Elsie painted at the house.

 
Queen Palmer was an engaging hostess and attracted the elite of the Aesthetic Movement to the house including Henry James, the actress Ellen Terry and the costume designer Alice Comyns Carr as well as John Singer Sargent. There were interesting display boards on the family and visitors and they even found a Bloomsbury connection as the aforementioned daughter, Elsie, married Leo Myers, an author who was a friend of Virginia and Leonard Woolf.

Closed June 2018



 

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