Page 4 - studio rework 17-07-2025

Mapperton House and its 2000 acre working estate is the home of the Earl and Countess of Sandwich. The family moved to Dorset from East Anglia in
1956. The original house was built in 1540 by Robert Morgan and his wife Mary.
The grand Italianate garden at Mapperton descends a steep north-south was created by Ethel Labouchere who brought the house in 1919 from the
Compton family. As a memory to her late husband, the garden was envisaged and laid out in the then fashionable Italian School popularise by the
designer Harold Peto. She had a passion for bird and animal statuary, acquiring a collection hat was placed throughout the grounds now covered with the
patina of moss and lichen. The four ornamental birds stand as sentinels.
,
Coombe through a series of elaborately designed terraces; the Fountain Court with a continuation on a lower level to two long rectangular reflective
pools flanked with Yew topiary.
The view is painted from the garden that separates the two pools, where

an ornamental urn and four presiding birds sit. Beyond can be seen the end of the second pool with statuary, at this point steps lead further down the
coombe to the arboretum and spring garden.
The evening light merges the shapes and contours of the garden and a stillness pervades, providing a timeless moment which can be perceived before the
day departs, as the roses give off their last glow.

Alter Realism - Mrs Labouchere’s Italianate gardens,
Alter Realism ‘The Italian Garden , Evening Light’ Castel Gandolfo.
Evening Light, Mapperton House , Dorset
The Legacy of St Thomas Aquinas
Oil on Canvas 50 1/8 x 70 1/4 inches
Canvas size: 30x60 inches