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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 May 2009
Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, is a neglected statesman. A sometime diplomat, he was Charles II's longest-serving secretary of state, held the highest household office for ten years, and married his daughter to a royal bastard. It is, however, his artistic patronage that has most conspicuously been overlooked and, consequently, its political significance underestimated. Informed by his experiences abroad, he appreciated the power of the arts to influence and impress and used the cultural mediation of the English diplomatic network in his control to help skilfully fashion his domestic political identity. Through judicious display of architecture, paintings, sculpture, and furniture, Arlington created a cultural world that confirmed both his close relationship with Charles II and his dominance of foreign affairs. Even after he resigned as secretary of state in 1674, Arlington continued to deploy artistic patronage for political ends: as lord chamberlain, he controlled the largest government department and was formally responsible for fashioning the royal image. This article reconsiders Arlington's contributions as a statesman through his considered use of material consumption and artistic patronage and thereby illuminates corners of cultural practice which are situated firmly in the political sphere.
1 The last biography of Arlington was written before the First World War. V. Barbour, Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, secretary of state to Charles II (Washington, DC, 1914).
2 R. Ollard, ed., Clarendon's four portraits (London, 1989), pp. 48, 132.
3 O. Airy, ed., Bishop Burnet's history of his own time (2 vols., Oxford, 1897), i, pp. 180, 181.
4 ‘Advice to a Painter to Draw my Lord A … ton, Grand Minister of State’, quoted in Barbour, Henry Bennet, p. 47.
5 See M. Lee, The Cabal (Urbana, IL, 1965). More favourable opinions are expressed by G. Holmes, The making of a great power (London, 1993); R. Hutton, ‘The making of the secret treaty of Dover, 1668–1670’, Historical Journal, 29 (1986), pp. 297–318; and by Alan Marshall who writes that Arlington ‘has been undoubtedly underestimated, both as a minister and as a statesman’, in Intelligence and espionage in the reign of Charles II (Cambridge, 1994), p. 49. See also Alan Marshall, The age of faction: court politics, 1660–1702 (Manchester, 1999), p. 94, and Alan Marshall, ‘Bennet, Henry, first earl of Arlington (bap. 1618, d. 1685)’, in Oxford dictionary of national biography (Oxford, 2004) (ODNB).
6 Frances Harris believes that political studies have not done justice to the significance for Restoration court culture of Arlington's appointment as lord chamberlain. F. Harris, Transformations of love (Oxford, 2002), p. 214n.
7 See for example P. Croft, ed., Patronage, culture and power: the early Cecils, 1558–1612 (New Haven, CT, and London, 2002); L. Gent, ed., Albion's classicism (New Haven, CT, and London, 1995); M. F. S. Hervey, The life, correspondence and collections of Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel (Cambridge, 1921); Hill, R., ‘Ambassadors and art collecting in early Stuart Britain’, Journal of the History of Collections, 15 (2003), pp. 211–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hill, R. and Lockyer, R., ‘Carleton and Buckingham: the quest for office revisited’, History, 88 (2003), pp. 17–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; D. Howarth, Arundel and his circle (New Haven, CT, and London, 1985); idem, ed., Art and patronage in the Caroline courts (Cambridge, 1993); idem, Images of rule: art and politics in the English Renaissance, 1485–1689 (London, 1997); L. Levy Peck, Court patronage and corruption in early Stuart England (London, 1990); idem, ed., The mental world of the Jacobean court (Cambridge, 1991); R. M. Smuts, Court culture and the origins of a royalist tradition in early Stuart England (Philadelphia, 1987); idem, The Stuart court and Europe (Cambridge, 1996); idem, Culture and power in England, 1585–1685 (Basingstoke, 1999); R. Strong, Henry Prince of Wales and England's lost Renaissance (London, 2000). Recent scholarship is beginning to look more closely at the second half of the seventeenth century. See K. Sharpe, ‘Restoration and reconstitution: politics, society and culture in the England of Charles II’, in C. MacLeod and J. Marciari Alexander, eds., Painted Ladies: women at the court of Charles II (London and New Haven, CT, 2001), pp. 10–23; and idem, ‘“Thy loving country's darling and desire”: aesthetics, sex and politics in the England of Charles II’, in J. Marciari Alexander and C. MacLeod, eds., Politics, transgression and representation at the court of Charles II (New Haven, CT, and London, 2007), pp. 1–34.
8 K. Sharpe, The personal rule of Charles I (New Haven, CT, and London, 1992), p. 15n.
9 See C. Geertz, Negara: the theatre state in nineteenth-century Bali (Princeton, NJ, 1980); Roosen, W. J., ‘Early-modern diplomatic ceremonial: a systems approach’, Journal of Modern History, 52 (1980), pp. 452–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cannadine, D., ‘The transformation of civic ritual in modern Britain: the Colchester Oyster Feast’, Past and Present, 94 (1982), pp. 107–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; D. Cannadine and S. Price, eds., Rituals of royalty (Cambridge, 1987).
10 Sharpe, The personal rule of Charles I, p. 222.
11 A. Bermingham, ‘The consumption of culture: image, object, text’, in A. Bermingham and J. Brewer, eds., The consumption of culture: image, object, text (London, 1995), pp. 1–22, at p. 4.
12 C. Campbell, ‘Understanding traditional and modern patterns of consumption in eighteenth-century England: a character-action approach’, in J. Brewer and R. Porter, eds., Consumption and the world of goods (London, 1993), pp. 40–57, at p. 55.
13 A. Appadurai, ed., The social life of things: commodities in cultural perspective (Cambridge, 1986); P. Bourdieu, Distinction: a social critique of the judgements of taste (London, 1984).
14 The most influential position in the English royal household was the lord chamberlain, who supervised all aspects of state ceremonial, ambassadorial entertainment, and the furnishing of the royal palaces. Its incumbent was instrumental in managing the public face of the monarchy, defining and projecting an image that embraced both international and domestic audiences. As well as being the most significant political force in Europe, Louis XIV was unrivalled in his display of monarchical power through visual means and it is surely no coincidence that six of the nine men occupying the office of lord chamberlain between 1671 and 1715 also served as ambassadors to the French court: the earls of St Albans (1671–7), Arlington (1674–85), Dorset (1689–97), Sunderland (1697), Jersey (1700–1704), and the duke of Shrewsbury (1699–1700 and 1710–15).
15 Anthropologists studying the concept of value have shown that it is to some extent a function of the difficulty of obtaining an object, whether through price, technology, or access. A. Gell concurs with Georg Simmel's views in ‘The technology of enchantment and the enchantment of technology’, in J. Coote and A. Shelton, eds., Anthropology, art and aesthetics (Oxford, 1992), pp. 40–66; Appadurai, ed., The social life of things.
16 13 July (n.s.) 1654, Charles to his brother James, Miscellanea Aulica (London, 1702), p. 109.
17 Ibid., pp. 116, 127, 128.
18 The National Archives (TNA), PC/2/55, fo. 552.
19 27 Oct. (o.s.) 1662, Francesco Giavarina to the Doge and Senate, quoted in Allen B. Hinds, ed., Calendar of State Papers...Venice (CSP Ven.) (39 vols., London, 1931–47), xxxiii, p. 203.
20 8 Mar. (n.s.) 1663, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Paris (MAE), Correspondence Politique Angleterre series (CPA) 79, fo. 104; 23 Apr. (n.s.) 1665, MAE, CPA 84, fo. 41.
21 4 Apr. (n.s.) 1661, the Venetian ambassador in Spain, Giacomo Quirini, wrote to the Doge and Senate saying that Bennet was ‘already rendered obedient to Spanish gold and entirely disposed to employ his offices in favour of this side … they have increased his pensions and given him a generous advance towards the cost of his voyage’, CSP Ven., xxxii, p. 273.
22 16 Apr. (o.s.) 1666, Bodleian Library, Carte MS 69, fo. 698.
23 Barbour, Henry Bennet, p. 102.
24 For this and a further discussion on later Stuart intelligence gathering, see Marshall, Intelligence and espionage in the reign of Charles II.
25 TNA SP/98/9, fos. 92, 104, 211, 323; Dunbar, J., ‘The building activities of the duke and duchess of Lauderdale, 1670–1682’, Archaeological Journal, 132 (1975), pp. 202–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at p. 205; K. H. D. Haley, The first earl of Shaftesbury (Oxford, 1966), p. 210.
26 G. Vertue, The notebooks of George Vertue relating to artists and collections in England, Walpole Society (6 vols., London, 1931–6), ii, p. 86.
27 29 Mar. (o.s.) 1665, 21 Sept. (o.s.) 1674, in W. Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn (4 vols., London, 1879).
28 Arlington clearly knew of the French fashion for decorative wall painting and employed the French-trained Italian artist, Antonio Verrio, to decorate the interiors of Goring House. This is discussed at greater length later in the article.
29 Nov. 1670, TNA SP/99/48, ii, fos. 226–32; 7 Mar. (n.s.) 1671, TNA SP/99/49, fo. 80.
30 9 Jan. (n.s.) 1671, TNA SP/99/48, ii, fo. 211.
31 Nov. 1670, TNA SP/99/48, ii, fos. 229–32; 5 Dec. (n.s.) 1670, TNA SP/99/48, ii, fo. 145.
32 13 Mar. (n.s.) 1671, TNA SP/99/49, fo. 84.
33 1/11 Apr. (n.s.) 1667, TNA SP/98/9, fo. 92; 14 Aug. (n.s.) 1671, TNA SP/99/50, fo. 54v.
34 18 Mar. (n.s.) 1663/4, TNA SP/98/5 (no folio numbers).
35 30 Aug. (n.s.) 1664, TNA SP/98/5.
36 22 Sept. (n.s.) 1664, HMC 15th report and appendix (London, 1897), part II, p. 304.
37 1/11 Apr. 1667, TNA SP/98/8, fo. 92; 1/11 Dec. 1668, TNA SP/98/9, fo. 459; 6/16 Nov. 1666, TNA SP/98/7, fo. n/a; C. McCorquodale, ‘Some paintings and drawings by Carlo Dolci in British collections’, Kunst des Barock in der toskana: Studien zur Kunst unter den letzten Medici (Munich, 1976), pp. 313–20, at p. 313; 22 Apr./2 May 1667, TNA SP/98/8, fo. 113.
38 7 Jan. (n.s.) 1667/8, TNA SP/98/8, fo. 355v; 9/19 Mar. 1667/8, TNA SP/98/9, fo. 104. Whether these decorative features and furniture were destined for Goring House or Arlington's new country house, Euston Hall, is not known.
39 Ibid., 19/29 May 1668, TNA SP/98/9, fo. 211.
40 9/19 Mar. 1668, TNA SP/98/9, fo. 104; 11/21 Jan. 1669, TNA SP/98/10, fo. 11.
41 Antoine Schnapper, Curieux du Grand Siècle: collections et collectionneurs dans la France du XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1994), pp. 39, 40.
42 4 Feb. (n.s.) 1669, TNA SP/98/10, fo. 40.
43 9/19 May 1670, TNA SP/98/11, fo. 173.
44 10 Sept. (o.s.) 1677, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn.
45 Information derived from a paper delivered by Jane Clark at a conference on exiles at the Senate House, London University, 28 July 2006.
46 Mar./Apr. 1664, TNA SP/98/5.
47 See Westrup, J., ‘Foreign musicians in Stuart England’, Musical Quarterly, 17 (1941), pp. 70–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
48 9 Dec. (n.s.) 1664, TNA SP/98/5.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid., 10 Feb. (n.s.) 1664/5.
51 TNA SP/98/11, fo. 526; TNA SP/98/13, fo. 83.
52 Hispania Illustrata (London, 1703), p. 264; Bodleian Library, English Letters C. 328, fos. 9, 11; TNA SP/97/19, fo. 141v; TNA SP/78/128, fo. 103; TNA SP/98/9, fo. 461.
53 TNA SP/98/8, fo. 92.
54 TNA SP/98/9, fo. 461.
55 Evelyn often dined at Arlington's house. He commented of the Arlingtons that ‘they love fine things, and to live easily, pompously, and hospitably’, 10 Sept. (o.s.) 1677, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn.
56 J. Crathorne, Cliveden: the place and the people (London, 1995), p. 28.
57 Haley, The first earl of Shaftesbury, p. 211.
58 Oswald, A., ‘Euston Hall’, Country Life, 121 (1957), pp. 58–61Google Scholar, 102–5, 148–51.
59 Ibid., p. 59; Wren Society xix (1943), p. xiii.
60 Oswald, ‘Euston Hall’, p. 103.
61 16 Oct. (o.s.) 1671, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn. Ambassador Courtin wrote to Louis XIV that the queen was also entertained by Arlington at Euston, spending twelve days there with all her suite. 22 Sept. (n.s.) 1676, MAE, CPA 119, fo. 250.
62 9 June (o.s.) 1671, CSP Ven., xxxvii, p. 67; Ambassador Colbert stayed at Euston three times in 1670/71. MAE, CPA 97, fo. 205, CPA 99, fo. 268, CPA 100, fo. 62; TNA SP/78/132, fo. 44.
63 TNA SP/78/137; Hispania Illustrata, p. 142.
64 Vertue, Notebooks, i, p. 61; G. Jackson-Stops uses Vertue as his source to claim that Verrio came back with Montagu to provide designs for the Mortlake tapestry factory, but again the timing of his arrival does not substantiate the claim: Montagu did not acquire the Mortlake tapestry workshop from Lords Sunderland and Brouncker until 1674. He may have helped as an intermediary with the negotiations for Verrio, but he was in no position to sponsor the man himself. Jackson-Stops, , ‘Daniel Marot and the first duke of Montagu’, Kunsthistorisches Jaarboek, 31 (1980), pp. 244–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar; J. Cornforth, ‘Boughton: impressions and people’, in T. Murdoch, ed., Boughton: the English Versailles (London, 1992), pp. 12–31.
65 Oxford DNB.
66 21 Sept. (o.s.) 1674, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn.
67 16 Oct. (o.s.) 1671, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn. Evelyn wrote this after the event and his dates are confused, but his recollection is likely to be more accurate than Vertue's, who wrote sixty years after the event and used second-hand sources.
68 16 Oct. (o.s.) 1671, in Bray, ed.,The diary of John Evelyn.
69 16 Nov. (o.s.) 1676, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn. Another editor of Evelyn's diaries noted that the Raphael has been reattributed to Sebastian del Piombo, and was given to Arlington by the Dutch government. A. Dobson, ed., The diaries of John Evelyn (London, 1908), p. 306.
70 16 Nov. (o.s.) 1676, in Bray, ed., The diary of John Evelyn.
71 M. Whinney and O. Millar, English art, 1625–1714 (Oxford, 1957), p. 183.
72 Henry Savile was ambassador extraordinary to the court of Louis XIV in 1672, and employed an artist in Paris to help him source pictures for his patron, Viscount Halifax. G. S. Halifax and W. D. Cooper, eds., Savile Correspondence, Camden Society, o.s., vii (London, 1858), p. 70. Robert, 2nd earl of Sunderland, replaced Savile in Paris and commissioned copies of paintings from contemporary French artists. 15 Aug. 1674, TNA PRO/32/50, fo. 55.
73 P. Bagni, Benedetto Gennari e la bottega del Guernica (Rome, 1986), pp. 55, 58.
74 TNA SP/84/186, fo. 237, TNA SP/84/188.
75 2 Oct. (o.s.) 1672, TNA SP/84/191, fo. 161.
76 J. Brotton, The sale of the late king's goods (London, 2006), p. 326.
77 D. Ormrod, ‘The origins of the London art market, 1660–1710’, in Michael North and David Ormrod, eds., Art markets in Europe, 1400–1800 (Aldershot, 1998), pp. 167–186, at p. 172.
78 2 Oct. (o.s.) 1672, TNA SP/84/191, fo. 161.
79 MAE, CPA 94-102. See also Hutton, ‘The making of the secret treaty of Dover’.
80 Barbour, Henry Bennet, p. 214.
81 J. R. Jones, Britain and the world, 1649–1815 (London, 1980); idem, Charles II – royal politician (London, 1987).
82 Geoffrey Holmes wrote that Arlington retired ‘to honorific office’: The making of a great power, p. 8. This appears to be far from the reality. Under Charles II the lord chamberlain's department contained 900 offices and servants. See J. C. Sainty and R. O. Buckholz, Officials of the royal household 1660–1837, part one: department of the lord chamberlain (London, 1997).
83 The departments under the lord chamberlain's direction included the Revels, the Wardrobe, the Jewel House, Music, Goldsmith, and all artistic personnel (painters, poet laureate etc.). Sainty and Buckholz, Officials, part one, p. 38.
84 Harris, Transformations of love, p. 214.
85 TNA SP/78/132, fo. 89; TNA LC/5/41, fo.12.
86 Walkling, Andrew R., ‘Masque and politics at the Restoration court: John Crowne's “Calisto”’, Early Music, 4 (Feb. 1996), pp. 27–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at p. 51. Calisto also involved performances by professional French singers. Westrup, ‘Foreign musicians in Stuart England’, p. 76.
87 Walkling, ‘Masque and politics at the Restoration court’, p. 32.
88 For a further discussion of Louis XIV's cultural programme of self-representation, see P. Burke, The fabrication of Louis XIV (New Haven, CT, and London, 1992).
89 Whinney and Millar, English art, p. 20.
90 Gibson, K., ‘The decoration of St George's Hall, Windsor for Charles II’, Apollo, 147–8 (1998), pp. 30–40Google Scholar, at p. 30.
91 Ibid., p. 32.
92 W. H. St John Hope, Windsor Castle: an architectural history (2 vols., London, 1913), i, p. 323.
93 The annual accounts between 1675 and 1679 show a 20 per cent increase in expenditure over the years 1671 to 1674. TNA LC/5/41, fos. 18–148v.
94 Sharpe, ‘Restoration and reconstitution’, p. 13.
