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was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘having no match in Wiltshire for the wealth of good houses, and a few of really high merit'. Corsham Court, on the edge of the town, was built in 1582 and bought by Paul Methuen of Bradford-on-Avon. The house was remodelled by Capability Brown in the years following 1761, the alterations including a picture gallery 72 feet long for a collection of paintings. Brown also began to design the park, which includes a Lake; the design was completed by Humphrey Repton early in the following century. Further changes to the house were made in the 19th century. The picture collection was based on the large number collected on the Continent by Sir Paul Methuen (died 1757), which included Van Dyck’s ‘Betrayal’ and Bolognese pictures, among them one by Guido Reni; the scope of the collection was broadened by the marriage, in 1844, of Frederick Paul Methuen to Anna Sanford whose father, the Rev. John Sanford, had lived in Florence and collected early Italian pictures including the ‘Annunciation’ from the studio of Hippo Lippi. |
