Alice Loxton Visits Harewood House

Alice Loxton is a young historian, writer and presenter. Over the years, she has worked with many organisations to bring history to mainstream audiences. Back in the summer, Alice and the other judges visited Harewood House. Here, Alice tells us more about the history of the property and their collection.

Harewood House

Designed by John Carr for the Lascelles family, funded through their deep involvement with transatlantic slavery, the House contains a collection of fine and decorative art, Chippendale furniture, Robert Adam interiors, British landscape and portrait paintings, French and Chinese porcelain, and Italian Renaissance paintings. Harewood’s collection contains a broad social history collection including rare items that reflect Harewood’s unique place in the world, from its time as a globally connected eighteenth-century country seat to becoming a Royal Household in the early 20th century.

One of England’s finest 18th century country houses, the entire holdings of Harewood House are a Designated Outstanding Collection. Harewood House Trust is an independent educational charity in Yorkshire welcoming over 250,000 visitors per year. Offering a membership scheme of 30,000 memberships, they are open to the public 12 months of the year.

The Collection

Harewood’s collection of paintings by J.M.W. Turner are of great significance, but are rarely displayed for conservation reasons. Edward Viscount Lascelles, son of the 1st Earl, was one of Turner’s earliest patrons, inviting him to Harewood in 1797. Harewood became one of the artist's most important early commissions, resulting in a series of watercolour paintings. These works, plus Turner’s earliest commissioned oil paintings, remain in the collection.

The libraries are another under-interpreted area of the collection, with over 10,000 books on display. With such a vast collection, the challenge is how to meaningfully engage audiences with the breadth of objects and artworks on display.

Last year, marked 250 years since the births of both J.M.W. Turner and Jane Austen. This anniversary provided an opportunity to bring new, relevant narratives on Turner, the Harewood library collection, and the country house setting for audiences today. For this the team at Harewood brought together the Turner collection, first edition Austen novels, nationally significant loaned works and new artistic commissions to create a groundbreaking show celebrating Turner, Austen and their shared interest in the Country House.

In collaboration with the University of York, they engaged new and existing audiences with bold, exciting, relevant narratives of Harewood’s history and collection, allowing them to celebrate the diverse range of the Harewood collection, from art, literature, decorative pieces and the interiors themselves. Collaborating with academics, curators and creatives enabled the team to blend original research, contemporary perspectives and pop culture to explore the full range of the collection, and how Austen and Turner shaped views of the country house.

Connecting to Harewood’s own colonial histories, narratives of slavery and empire were threaded throughout, positioning Austen, Turner and the country house within a global narrative. They also took the opportunity to explore ways they could make the collection accessible to audiences with visual impairments. Specially designed access resources (audio descriptions, EnChroma glasses, “tactile Turners”), ensured audiences with varying needs had meaningful experiences, with incredibly rewarding results and feedback from visitors. The combination of original scholarship, contemporary artistic intervention, accessible interpretation and programming, created a memorable multi-layered experience, offering fresh insights into Harewood’s collection, and bringing Austen and Turner to life for new and existing audiences.

The winner of this year's award will be announced this November. Stay tuned as we announce other shortlist contenders over the next few weeks.