William BankesA love affair with Kingston Lacy

Throughout his life, William kept notebooks and recorded details about art and architecture that he visited and also about his own acquisitions. His notes about ‘Las Meninas’ which, at the time, he believed to have been a preparatory sketch painted by Velázquez, record an anecdote about the painting:

‘It is related that, when Velasquez had finished his painting of “The Family of Philip the 4th” of which this is the original sketch – he presented it to the Monarch, asking him whether he thought there was any thing deficient in it? – “it wants one thing to complete it” said the monarch & taking the pallet from the hands of the Artist, he proceeded to paint on the breast of Velasquez the Cross of the Order of St Jacques (?) ‘

Collaboration with Charles BarryIn 1819, while exploring in Egypt, William met a talented young architect called Charles Barry. On his return to England, William commissioned Barry to remodel his house at Soughton. He had to wait another 15 years until his father’s death, before inheriting Kingston Hall and being able to put his plans in place for that house too.

In 1835, Bankes called in Charles Barry: by now the most successful architect in Britain. Nonetheless, William insisted on many ideas of his own. He wanted to restore the house in the manner of Inigo Jones (whom he believed had designed the original house) and make it more convenient to modern life.

The entrance was returned the north front. The ground on this side of the house was lowered by 8 feet to accommodate a new porte-cochère. Guests would now enter through an elegant new entrance hall without getting wet.

Carrera marble staircaseWilliam’s tour de force was a staircase of Carrera marble which linked the new entrance hall in the basement directly to the bedroom floor. The staircase provides a series of vistas that cleverly use false perspective to increase the Baroque sense of space and grandeur.

The entrance hall at Kingston Lacy.© National Trust Images

William Bankes only assumed the mantle of future heir to his family’s Dorset estates at the age of 19, when his elder brother

Henry was drowned following a shipwreck in 1806. Already wealthy in his own right even as a young man, William was also the future heir to property at Soughton in Flintshire owned by a great uncle. He had the means to indulge an interest in art and architecture from an early age.

In 1812, following in the footsteps of his friend Lord Byron, William travelled to Portugal and Spain during the time of the Peninsula War. For some of the time, he stayed at the headquarters of the Duke of Wellington, a family friend. Taking advantage of the disruption of the war, he started buying artworks at good prices. As an Englishman, he was unusual in taking an interest in Spanish art at this date. His collecting was eclectic but he nonetheless put together a significant collection of Spanish art. He made copious notes about the artwork that he collected and planned how the collection should be hung, in the future, at Kingston Hall.

Preliminary sketch for ‘Las Meninas’ attributed to Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, after Velázquez

North elevation of Kingston Hall. Design by Charles Barry, 1835-‘36. © National Trust Images

Section through Kingston Hall, showing the Carrera marble staircase (left hand side) bypassing the ground floor reception rooms and leading straight up to the guest bedrooms.

The National Manuscripts Conservation Trust

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