AN ENGLISH ALTO RELIEVO STONE TABLET FROM THE OVERMANTEL OF THE GREAT HALL AT BLITHFIELD HALL

AN ENGLISH ALTO RELIEVO STONE TABLET FROM THE OVERMANTEL OF THE GREAT HALL AT BLITHFIELD HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE, ATTIBUTED TO JAMES TRUBSHAW, C1820 135 x 165cmProvenance: Commissioedn by William Bagot, 2nd Baron Bagot (1778-1856) thence by descent to Nancy, Lady Bagot (d 2014).On inheriting Blithfield in 1798 the young Lord Bagot embarked on an extensive remodelling of the house in the fashionable Regency Gothic-Medieval style. A romantic and scholarly man who, unlike his two predecessors, was uninterested in politics but shared their intellectual ability and other interests, he was particularly conscious of the Bagot family's exceptionally long association with the ancient Staffordshire seat, in its beautiful setting. Lord Bagot commissioned the watercolourist and part-time architect John Buckler (1770-1851) to make drawings and later employed him to rebuild his second seat, Pool Park in North Wales.The alterations and decoration at Blithfield were the responsibility of the architect-builder James Trubshaw (1773-1853) whose grandfather and great grandfather (Richard and Charles Cope Trubshaw) had together Gothicised the house in the mid 18th century. James Trubshaw studied sculpture under Richard Westmacott the elder (1747-1808) and later supervised the building work at William Beckford's Fonthill Abbey before employment at both Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, where he assembled the Grand Staircase. Returning to his native Staffordshire in 1800 he worked on several important houses in the area including carving a number of wall tablets similar to the present example in the local sandstone.The vaulted Great Hall at Blithfield, approached along an enclosed cloister walk, retains its fine plasterwork interior by Francis Bernasconi (1762-1841) and is complete but for the present tablet that was removed prior to the date of the house first being listed (Grade I) in January 1953.