“Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill” is held in the property of the same name as a presentation of more than 200 artworks from the reunited Horace Walpole’s collection. The doors of the 4th Earl of Orford’s villa are opened for art admirers from 20 October 2018 to 24 February 2019. According to exhibition officials, visitors are honoured to see Strawberry Hill as it was envisaged by Walpole on this one-of-a-lifetime event.

However, it’s impossible to acknowledge the real value of this exhibition without knowing who Horace Walpole (1717 – 1797) is.

“A Bystander Often Sees More of the Game Than Those That Play”
This is the famous quote from The Castle of Otranto, the most recognized Walpole’s novel. It’s safe to say that “a bystander” represents Horace himself.

Being the youngest son of Robert Walpole, the first and the longest-ruling prime minister of Great Britain, Horace also participated in big politics but never reached his father’s heights. Instead, he inherited father’s affinity for arts and almost completely tied his life journey to his major passion becoming a famous writer, art historian, and antiquarian.

Horace Walpole is known as a progenitor of gothic fiction genre, which is considered to be a precursor to the horror in modern literature and cinema. Aside from novels and historical reasoning, he wrote more than 4,000 letters in his unique artistic manner, conveying political overtones, literature tendencies, and overall customs of his era.

Interestingly to know, Walpole’s heritage is reflected in a modern English language, as he added a number of new words to the vocabulary. The most extraordinary of them is “serendipity”, what means an unplanned and fortunate discovery.

Having a multifaceted personality, Walpole couldn’t stop at one thing, so he became an expert in a variety of fields. Horace was a keen gardener and interior decorator — evidence of this is his Essay on Modern Gardening and his self-designed surroundings of Strawberry Hill. Also, he was a frequent visitor of Almack's gentlemen's club where he enjoyed games of chance. Opened in 1764 as a gambling establishment, Almack's was one of the first “casino prototypes” for upper classes in the UK. This club was chosen by members of Whigs party as their favourite rest spot.

But today, Horace Walpole is of great interest of us as an art collector and architecture lover, since we have a chance to learn about his two eminent creations — Strawberry Hill and an exceptional art collection within its walls — at the same time.

His Sanctuary, His Inspiration, His Only Heir
Walpole has never been married nor had children. His only heir, inspiration, and sanctuary is Strawberry Hill. He poured his soul into every inch of that place, adding towers and battlements, ogival arches and gothic ornaments, antique marbles and lanterns to a small 17-century cottage.

Also, he invited artists to draw paintings on the walls. Horace literally turned his property into a museum, gathering there more than 4,000 historically significant objects and a plenty of art pieces from ancient Greek pots to 18-century watercolour miniatures.

The enormous number of exhibits is not the only reason why his endeavours are priceless. Creation of such a sophisticated art collection required a great deal of effort that times.

If Walpole lived today, he could just find all artworks on the web and buy them through an online auction. But no, he had to set out to a treasure hunt each time he wanted to find a painting. By analogy, he could not visit Almack's gambling club spending his evenings at his residence and playing casino games in the online venues instead. Now it’s much easier to do everything from gambling to organizing an art exhibition, that’s why we need to realise how valuable this collection is.

The most unexpected twist in the story of Strawberry Hill is that it inspired Walpole to write his The Castle of Otranto. How gloomy and dark dungeons of the medieval castle could be prompted by elegant and eccentric interiors of Strawberry Hill? Probably it was a big surprise for Walpole himself.

However, we are not sure whether it is good that Horace hadn’t any children. The house was inherited by George Edward Waldegrave, who sold the villa and all art pieces from the Walpole’s collection in an auction. After that, Strawberry Hill and its content temporary disappeared from the publicity and was “discovered” again almost three centuries later.

That’s why the exhibition is called “Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill” that were actually found again. Even though treasure hunt goes on, this fall you can see over 200 unique objects returned to their home. To learn more about prices, opening hours, and guided tours, visit the official website of Strawberry Hill.