{"id":91797,"date":"2025-08-24T07:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T07:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/91797\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T07:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T07:08:10","slug":"nine-new-roman-busts-installed-at-stowe-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/91797\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine new Roman busts installed at Stowe House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tony Fisher<\/p>\n

BBC News, Buckinghamshire<\/p>\n

\"StoweStowe House Preservation Trust<\/p>\n

A view of North Hall after the busts were installed<\/p>\n

Nine newly commissioned busts have been installed in a grand reception room at a Georgian country house.<\/p>\n

The classical sculptures were created as part of the restoration of North Hall at Grade I-listed Stowe House in Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n

The project to return the room to its original splendour took six years to complete and cost \u00a375,000.<\/p>\n

It was made possible thanks to the charity Stowe House Preservation Trust and two former Stowe School pupils.<\/p>\n

\"StoweStowe House Preservation Trust<\/p>\n

The team from Cliveden Conservation carefully installed the busts including this one of Homer<\/p>\n

Each bust \u2014 representing Roman emperors, notable figures from antiquity, and the goddess Juno \u2014 was carefully researched to ensure historical accuracy. <\/p>\n

Working from surviving examples in collections across the UK, the conservation teams used a combination of 3D scanning, scaled printing, and traditional casting to recreate each piece.<\/p>\n

The final finishes were hand-applied to mimic antique marble and bronze, ensuring the busts blend in with the hall’s authentic 18th Century style.<\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Rice from Cliveden Conservation said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Stowe House Preservation Trust on recreating these busts. <\/p>\n

“Seeing them back in place completes the North Hall’s decorative scheme and restores a key part of Stowe’s history.”<\/p>\n

\"SuppliedSupplied<\/p>\n

Queen Victoria’s visit to Stowe House in 1845 was documented with an engraving, which depicted busts in the room<\/p>\n

North Hall at Stowe House was first designed in the 1730s by William Kent.<\/p>\n

The first phase of its restoration<\/a> took place between 2015 and 2018, focusing on the conservation of Kent’s gilded ceiling and original canvas paintings.<\/p>\n

Progress was paused when researchers realised there were additional sculptures which used to adorn the room.<\/p>\n

One former pupil of Stowe School (known as an Old Stoic) then offered to fund a single bust. <\/p>\n

Six months later, another Old Stoic pledged to finance the remaining busts, which helped to complete the North Hall’s decorative scheme.<\/p>\n

The Stowe House Preservation Trust was founded in 1997 and is responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the building.<\/p>\n

It is an independent charity separate from the National Trust and Stowe School.<\/p>\n

\"SuppliedSupplied<\/p>\n

The newly installed busts included Tiberius, Nero, Caracalla and Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Fisher BBC News, Buckinghamshire Stowe House Preservation Trust A view of North Hall after the busts were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-91797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}