The Spencer Stanhopes of Cannon Hall - A Barnsley family of artists

Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829 —1908) was often described as one of the last of the Pre-Raphaelites. Born in January 1829 at Cannon Hall in Cawthorne, the home of many generations of the Spencer Stanhopes family, Roddam was the second son of six, of John Spencer Stanhope, and Elizabeth Wilhemina Coke.

A colourful character from a young age, his childhood surroundings at Cawthorne helped the development of a secure and strong personality. Archive material records a humorous story from his childhood. With a young Stanhope suffering with toothache his father gave him a guinea to get the offending tooth removed, the sympathetic father afterwards asked how the operation had gone. Young Stanhope replied ‘Oh that was alright, it seemed a pity to waste good money on a snuffy dentist so I just tied a string around the tooth, tied the string to a gate, slammed the gate and the tooth came out. I then spent the guinea!’

It may have been expected of him to follow several different paths in life due to his family ties however his passion for art took hold from a young age and not inheriting the family estates left Stanhope free to make a commitment to art, despite his mother’s apprehensions. Elizabeth once wrote, ‘He is full of his art, I am afraid it’s a sad waste, but he is at least happy’. Little did she know her son would follow his interests and go far in the art world. He studied at Rigby before attending Oxford university. He understood the importance of his education once writing to his father, ‘Weither I am destined to be an artist or not cannot be determined, till I have perfected my education in painting and drawing’. He carved out his skills often working in oils, watercolors and mixed media. His subject matter was often mythological and biblical stories. After university he began moving in artistic circles and became friends with other artists including, Rossetti, Burne Jones and Holman Hunt, the gentlemen also known as the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood. This group became a huge influence. He now had a set of friends with whom he could exchange ideas and together they could broaden each other’s art practice. Roddam went on to work with the celebrated brotherhood even recording their thoughts on his work. ‘I submitted my picture for their inspection, and I must confess that their remarks on it were very flattering’. Stanhope’s career within the art world was cemented. 

In his personal life, in January 1859 he married Elizabeth King, the daughter of John James King, and the widow of George Frederick Dawson. They settled in Hillhouse, Cawthorne, and had one daughter, Mary, in 1860. Staying close to his family he became an art teacher to his niece Evelyn De Morgan.

Around this time his health became a problem and Stanhope suffered with chronic asthma, leading the artist to find a home in Florence where he stayed during winter months. Sadly the couple suffered great heartache in 1867, when at the age of seven, Mary died of Scarlet Fever. She is buried in an English cemetery in Florence. Her father designed the headstone. Roddam continued to work to the end of his life. He passed away in August 1908 in his Italian villa on the hills of Bellosguardo, near Florence aged 80. An exhibition of his work was displayed in London in the months following his death in celebration of his life. He continues to be remembered and his work can be seen in collections up and down the country as well as overseas, including at his childhood home of Cannon Hall.

Mary Gertrude Elizabeth Spencer Stanhope (1857-1944)

Mary Gertrude Spencer Stanhope (known as Gertrude) was the daughter of Elizabeth Julia Buxton and Sir Walter Spencer Stanhope of Cannon Hall. The eldest of eleven children, she was born in London on 18^th October in 1857 and baptised in Cawthorne near the family home. Her parents owned Cannon Hall between 1873 to 1911 and lead a very public life, entertaining prominent guests, wealthy neighbours, powerful friends and enjoying extravagant banquets. Sadly, Gertrude’s mother Elizabeth died in 1880 aged just 49. Greatly admired by the locals a card signed by 239 women before her death indicates the local popularity of the family. Gertrude was home-schooled by a governess as many young girls were at that time, having lessons in maths, languages, and drawing. The family were known to encourage artistic endeavours and would put on many amateur theatrical productions in the grounds, which they often starred.

Gertrude’s uncle was John Roddam Spencer Stanhope the pre-Raphaelite artist and it is believed he encouraged her artistic skills from an early age, along with her sister Freda and cousin Evelyn De Morgan. Soon she developed a love of painting and had a huge talent for sculpture. She began sculpting in bronze and terracotta. Gertrude was unusual in focussing on sculpture as this was considered by many at the time as being too technical and physical for women. Also due to the moral restrictions of society, women like Gertrude would find it hard to get models to draw from. Often, they would be asked to stick to ‘feminine’ subjects like that of fruits and flowers but a determined Gertrude instead became inspired by mythological themes and stories from the old testament. From the 1880s onwards, she focused on exhibiting her work in many galleries around the country including the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and numerous galleries in Birmingham and Manchester. Ambitious she wanted to see the world and travelled to Egypt. Her work continued to be exhibited throughout the early 20^th century. She enjoyed success as an artist, not only creating sculptural works such as bronze figures, but also exhibiting paintings at London galleries between 1886 and 1909. Two bronze sculptures Pan and Orpheus were exhibited around the country before fittingly becoming part of the permanent displays at Cannon Hall Museum, where they are still displayed today in the De Morgan galleries on the upper floors of the museum.  

Gertrude spent the greater part of her life in Italy, she frequently visited her uncle Roddam in Florence, Italy, where he lived in his later years. She continued to spend time in Florence after his death, and died there herself, on 7 October 1944, having never married. She left a bequest to the Royal Marsden Hospital and to the Holy Trinity Church. She was buried with her uncle in the Allori Cemetery in Via Senese, south of the River Arno near Florence. She left a legacy in sculpture and in the history of women in art, achieving great expertise in her artistic endeavours and paving the way for future  artists.

Evelyn De Morgan (1855 – 1919) 

Evelyn De Morgan was one of the most successful and prolific professional female artists of her time. As a niece of the Spencer Stanhope family, she spent a great deal of time in her early years at Cannon Hall sketching her surroundings. As a child she visited Cawthorne regularly in order to spend time with her relatives and found it liberating to be allowed to roam the beautiful countryside, feel the fresh air and discover the nature surrounding her. Born Mary Everlyn Pickering in 1855, she came from a wealthy background as her mother (Roddam Spencer-Stanhope’s sister) was descended from a long line of landowners in Yorkshire and to the Coke of Norfolk, Earl of Leicester. She displayed a flair for art from an early age. On the morning of her seventeenth birthday, she wrote: ‘17 today, that is to say seventeen years wasted in eating, dawdling and flittering (frittering) time away…Art is eternal, but life is short… I have not a moment to lose’. In the same year Evelyn drew a study of the male nude from a wooden model, shocking her drawing teacher, who had been employed to instruct her in copying fruit and flowers.

In 1873, Evelyn enrolled at the Slade School of Art (which had opened two years earlier) where she was able to develop her abilities with different artistic forms such as drawing, painting and sculpting. She became one of the first women to attend life drawing classes. Her skills in drawing were well respected and she won several prizes including a coveted silver medal. Her uncle, Roddam felt her drawing skills were superior to his own and commented; ‘You can draw infinitely better than I do, I can only envy you!’ Evelyn was particularly close to her uncle Roddam Spencer Stanhope, of Cannon Hall, who was a Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist painted and encourage by him, she followed in his footsteps, first by attending art school and later working as a professional artist. She also visited him frequently during the time he spent in Florence in Italy.These visits were to affect her profoundly and the influence of Pre-Renaissance art features heavily in both their work. Evelyn’s works, such as The Garden of Opportunity tended to favour Old Testament or mythological themes,executed in a Pre-Raphaelite or neo-classical styles, in oils on canvas. In choosing these techniques and subject matters.

Evelyn was positioning herself as a professional artist, during a period when few women succeeded in this field. Evelyn married the ceramic artist William de Morgan in 1887 and their union was a meeting of minds both artistically and politically. Both were concerned with the inequalities that they saw in society around them. They campaigned for prison reform and women’s suffrage. In later life Evelyn used her paintings to exress her social and political views.

A new long-term permanent display of works by both Evelyn and William De Morgan is now homed at Cannon Hall Museum, on loan from the De Morgan foundation. The De Morgan Foundation Collection was formed by Evelyn’s sister, Wilhelmina Stirling. Her lifetime passion was to preserve and promote the works and reputation of her sister and brother in law. She displayed her collection at her home, Old Battersea House, in London and often gave tours of it to the public. After Mrs Stirling’s death in 1965, the De Morgan Foundation charitable trust was formed in order to care for the Collection. www.demorgan.org.uk.