CHRISTIE'S TO SELL RARE DEPICTION OF 'LOST' PALACE

CHRISTIE'S ANNOUNCED RECENTLY THAT THEY WILL BE OFFERING AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND BEAUTIFUL DEPICTION OF THE 'LOST' PALACE OF NONSUCH AT THE AUCTION OF OLD MASTERS AND 19th CENTURY ART ON 7.DECEMBER. COMMISSIONED BY KING HENRY VIII IN ORDER TO OUTSHINE THE GREAT PALACES BUILT BY HIS RIVAL KING FRANCOIS I OF FRANCE, THE BUILDING OF NONSUCH PALACE BEGAN IN 1538 AND TOOK 8 YEARS TO COMPLETE. IT STOOD FOR LESS THAN 150 YEARS HAVING FALLEN INTO DESPAIR IN THE 1680s. THE EARLIEST AND MOST IMPORTANT CONTEMPORARY DEPICTION OF BRITAIN'S MOST AMBITIOUS RENAISSANCE COMMISSION, THE PRESENT DRAWING IS AN EXTREMELY VALUABLE RECORD OF THE 'LOST PALACE AND HAS BEN SEEN IN PUBLIC ONLY TWICE BEFORE; AT SUTTON PLACE IN 1983 AND AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY, WASHINGTON, IN 1986. DESCRIBED AS 'THE ONLY SURVIVING IMPRESSION OF WHAT NONSUCH REALLY LOOKED LIKE', IT IS EXPECTED TO REALIZE £800,000 TO £1,200,000. THE STUNNING WATERCOLOUR WAS EXECUTED BY JORIS HOEFNAGEL WHO PROVIDED THE ILLUSTRATIONS FOR CIVITATES ORBIS TERRARUM, AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT RECORD OF ALL MOST IMPORTANT BUILDINGS AND CITYSCAPES IN EUROPE FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1572. ALMOST ALL OF THE 546 DRAWINGS MADE FOR THE BOOK ARE NOW IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, WITH THE MAJORITY, MORE THAN 60, IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN VIENNA. HOEFNAGEL EXECUTED THE PRESENT WORK IN SITU AT NONSUCH AND USED IT TO CREATE A LATER, LESS DETAILED DEPICTION THAT WAS USED FOR THE ENGRAVING. THE LATER VERSION IS NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. THE PRESENT WORK WAS ACQUIRED IN THE MID-19th CENTURY BY SIR ALFRED MORRISON OF FONTHILL, ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED BRITISH COLLECTORS OF THE LATE 19th CENTURY, AND HAS SINCE PASSED BY DESCENT.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF NONSUCH BEGAN ON 23.APRIL.1538, THE THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HENRY VIIIs ACCESSION TO THE THRONE, ON THE SITE OF TE VILLAGE OF CUDDINGTON, NEAR EWELL, SURRY. THE PALACE'S PRIMARY FUNCTION WAS TO SERVE AS A HUNTING LODGE; MORE IMPORTANTLY IT WAS CONCEIVED AS A VISUAL EXPRESSION OF TUDOR SUPREMACY BOTH TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL, A CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH OF HENRY'S FIRST LEGITIMATE SON (THE FUTURE EDWARD VI) ON 12.OCTOBER.1537 AND, IN FLATTENING THE PARISH CHURCH OF CUDDINGTON, IT LITERALLY DEMONSTRATED HENRY'S NEW DOMINANCE AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT WAS PROOF THAT HENRY WAS EQUAL TO THE ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF FRANCOIS I OF FRANCE. IT WAS NAMED 'NONSUCH' AS NO OTHER PALACE COULD EQUAL ITS MAGNIFICENCE. STILL INCOMPLETE WHEN HENRY VIII DIED IN 1547, NONSUCH WAS SOLD TO HENRY FITZALAN EARL OF ARUNDEL, BY MARY I IN 1557. IT RETURNED TO ROYAL HANDS IN 1592, WHEN ARUNDEL'S HEIR LORD LUMLEY GAVE IT TO ELIZABETH I IN SETTLEMENT OF A DEBT. IT WAS EVENTUALLY GRANTED BY CHARLES II TO BARBARA VILLIERS, COUNTESS OF CASTLEMAINE, IN 1670, WHEN SHE WAS CREATED BARONESS OF NONSUCH, COUNTESS OF SOUTHAMPTON AND DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND. IN LATE 1682 SHE TOOK THE STEP OF BEGINNING TO DISMANTLE THE INNER COURT, AS MERELY THE FIRST STAGE OF AN ORDERED DEMOLITION WHICH ENABLED HER TO SELL THE RAW MATERIALS FOR MONEY WITH WHICH TO PAY OFF HER GAMBLING DEBTS. BY 1690 THE PALACE WAS ALL BUT GONE, AND FOR ALMOST FOUR HUNDRED YEARS ITS FABULOUS APPEARANCE WAS ONLY KNOWN THROUGH WRITTEN RECORDS AND THE FEW KNOWN VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS.