Picturing Childhood invites visitors to explore the many different versions of childhood as represented in art that spans five centuries, from Tudor times to the present day.
Rarely-seen pieces from the Devonshire Collections – such as paintings, sketches, literature, photographs, costumes and sculpture – will be on display throughout the house in addition to loans and new interactive works by contemporary artists. The pieces explore themes ranging from family relationships and literacy to duty, identity and colonialism.
Works by artists including Raphael, Anthony van Dyck, Cornelis de Vos, the Master of the Countess of Warwick, Edwin Landseer, Joshua Reynolds, Johan Zoffany (on loan from Tate) and Lucian Freud are installed throughout the house in historic spaces such as the Chapel and the State Apartment.
They are shown alongside items from the archives at Chatsworth, including a flick through family photo album, and a short film inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a first edition of which is held in the library.