William Larkin swagger portraits reworked at Kenwood House

The Suffolk Collection is separate to the famous Iveagh Bequest of artworks at the English Heritage house and features exquisite paintings of the Earls of Suffolk and Berkshire by William Larkin.

They were bequeathed by Margaret Hyde the 19th Century Countess of Suffolk - an American heiress who married into the British aristocracy.

The paintings passed into her ownership after she loaned her son - the 20th Earl - a huge sum of money, which he didn't repay.

A portrait of Countess of Suffolk Margaret Hyde who bequeathed the collection to the country (Image: English Heritage)

Now, painter Stephen Farthing has created four canvases that respond to the works, including a portrait of Margaret by John Singer Sargant.

Strike a Pose: Stephen Farthing and the Swagger Portrait opened at the Hampstead mansion last week and includes other examples of the Royal Academician's work alongside the works that inspired them.

English Heritage curator Louise Cooling says the exhibition is part of a programme to "make contemporary commissions responding to our collection."

Staff put the finishing touches to hanging Strike A Pose, Stephen Farthing and the Swagger Portrait at Kenwood House (Image: English Heritage)

"It's easy because of how wonderful the Iveagh Bequest is to overlook the collection on the first floor, but it's really wonderful. It's the largest collection by William Larkin, who is not a household name, but is arguably the most gifted portrait painter of the early Jacobean period.

"We want to encourage people upstairs to engage with the collection in ways they haven't previously and to think about historic portraiture in a new way.

"I think this is a really exciting way to celebrate Kenwood’s world-renowned art collection.”

Starting at the Royal College of Art in 1970, Farthing has repeatedly used historic paintings as a jumping off point for his work - creating his own twists on the once fashionable Grand Manner or ‘swagger’ portraits.

Staff at Kenwood hang paintings for the exhibition of work by Stephen Farthing (Image: English Heritage)

"During lockdown he was inspired to start a third series after visiting Kenwood for the first time. He had gone upstairs and seen the paintings by William Larkin, was blown away and started working on them independently," says Cooling.

The result, she says, is "surprising."

"Seeing them in the space alongside the historic paintings, Farthing wouldn't say are portraits, they are responses to portraits. They are not about the person but about the space they occupy, the clothes they stand up in, the theatrical quality of the setting clothing, and props."

The original painting Lady Diana Cecil by William Larkin and the response by Stephen Farthing (Image: English Heritage)

As well as the likeness of his sitter, Larkin captured their furnishings, clothes and jewels. Indeed Farthing's fascination is in the portrait "as public display."

"It's not a private, intimate image, it's about ostentation, glamour, self-awareness and self-assurance," says Cooling.

"These swagger portraits are artificially created to give the overall impression of high-status individuals, and have been used throughout history by monarchs and aristocrats to publicise their wealth and status."

"Stephen Farthing takes those elements but treats them in a different way.

"There's a more abstract element with the idea that they are constructions and a desire to make you aware of what you are seeing and how you are perceiving it."

The exhibition, which also includes pieces from the 1970s and 1990s, is the first time that Farthing’s swagger portraits have been shown alongside some of the paintings that inspired them.

Stephen Farthing RA said: “Museums, galleries and collections offer us an opportunity to enter into conversations with artworks that happen to catch our eye.

"From time to time I have recorded some of these conversations as painted images back in my studio. This exhibition shows some of my paintings in the company of some of the swagger portraits which, over the years, have not simply caught my eye, but engaged me in conversation.”

For three week-long periods during the exhibition, Farthing will use the Dairy as a temporary, public studio, where he will complete a new painting. This will be a reworking of an artwork from the collection at Kenwood, chosen by English Heritage volunteers based there.