A George III gessoed-and-painted pine door-surround. Attributed to James Wyatt, commissioned by William Brummell for Donnington Grove, Berkshire. Ca. 1782.

A George III gessoed-and-painted pine door-surround. Attributed to James Wyatt, commissioned by William Brummell for Donnington Grove, Berkshire. Ca. 1782. Installed on the east wall of the first floor back room.

Surround: 9’ 4 ¾” x 6’ 4 ¾”; note that the skirting blocks are later.

Donnington Grove, just north of Newbury in Berkshire, was designed by John Chute for James Andrews in 1763, and described by Howard Colvin as “his most considerable and successful essay in the Gothic style” (Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, p. 214). Andrews sold the house in 1782 to William Brummel, father of the famous dandy Beau — who grew up in the house. As the Strawberry Hill gothic was falling out of fashion, the elder Brummel expanded the house in a neoclassical mode; the present door surround — attributed to one of the Wyatts by Christopher Hussey in Country Life (2 October 1958, p. 715) — was commissioned by Brummel in his modernization campaign.

Set into the recessed panels of each slender pilaster is a single course of beaded molding, surmounted by a squared acanthus capital. Across the frieze are six oval rosette paterae set into draped ribbon-tied swags. Flanking the breakfront frieze are a vertical oval paterae inset with rosettes. The lower cornice alternates flutes and slender acorns, the upper alternating oak leaves and palmettes. The background (i.e., all but the decorative elements names above) is gessoed and painted a pale celadon. The French polychromy is offset by the English symbols (oak leaf and acorn), as well as the characteristic deployment of baroque ovals against otherwise classical features.

Although Donnington Grove still stands (used now as a hotel), a note from Sotheby’s (acquired as lot 27, 30 November 2001) indicates that the door was removed from the house and sold “approximately 10 years ago” (viz. ca. 1990).