Interior, principal floor, front hall, view from West. Digital image of D 41615/cn

Description Interior, principal floor, front hall, view from West. Digital image of D 41615/cn

Date 16/11/1998

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 764671

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 41615 CN

Scope and Content Front Hall, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway, from the west This magnificent room forms a great entrance hall running the length of the north front of the house. The entrance (left) is guarded by an iron yett, a hinged open-work gate constructed of iron bars, which possibly dates from the late 17th century. The walls are covered with 17th-century gilded leather stamped with the Douglas emblem, a winged heart surmounted by a crown, and hung with portraits including the family group of the 3rd Duke of Queensberry (centre) by the 18th-century artist, Thomas Hudson. The Douglas emblem reappears in the modern carpet, made in Ayrshire in 1985. The room is furnished with late 17th-century chairs and settees, and a French marquetry longcase clock (right) dating from the reign of King Louis XV. The lead statuette on the table depicts 'The Rape of the Sabine Women', and dates from the 16th century. When the castle was built, the front hall was designed as a loggia or arcaded gallery which was open on one side to the courtyard (right). It formed a covered meeting place for arriving guests before they proceeded across the open courtyard to the main entrance to the house in the south range. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, on the site of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold. The castle passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch in 1810, and is now the home of the 9th Duke (11th Duke of Queensberry). It houses many great family treasures and works of art, including fine carvings and an important collection of paintings. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/764671

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap