'Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill' recreates the collector's stunning displays at YCBA

The Yale Center for British Art is the only U.S. venue for this exhibition of items from one of the most important English collectors of the eighteenth century, on view through Jan. 3, 2010. This groundbreaking show seeks to evoke the breadth and importance of Walpole's collections at Strawberry Hill by reassembling an astonishing variety of his objects, including rare books and manuscripts, antiquities, paintings, prints and drawings, furniture, ceramics, arms and armor, and curiosities with the purpose of exploring the ways in which Walpole used his house and treasures to construct different histories: political, national, dynastic, cultural, and imaginary. The objects on display will be drawn from international public and private collections as well as those of the Center and Yale's Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, Connecticut. About Walpole An influential antiquarian and man of letters, Horace Walpole (1717 1797) was the youngest son of Robert Walpole, first earl of Oxford and prime minister under both George I and George II. Horace's birthright placed him at the center of society and politics, and of literary, aesthetic, and intellectual circles. His brilliant letters and other writings have made him the best-known commentator on social, political, and cultural life in eighteenth-century England. In his own day, he was most famous for his personal collections, which were displayed at Strawberry Hill, his pioneering Gothic-revival house on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham, outside London, and through which he constructed narratives of English art and history. About the exhibit Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill has been organized by the Center, The Lewis Walpole Library, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with contributions by an array of distinguished international scholars. The Yale Center for British Art is located at 1080 Chapel Street in New Haven, Ct. Info: 877 BRIT ART (274 8278) or www.yale.edu/ycba Hours: Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m. 5 p.m.; Sun. noon 5 p.m. | Admission is free The exhibition has been generously supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.