Talk: Cassandra Brydges, Duchess of Chandos, Wife, Stepmother and Interior Designer

Talk: Cassandra Brydges, Duchess of Chandos, Wife, Stepmother and Interior Designer

This talk will discuss the role of the eighteenth-century wife and how the life of Cassandra Brydges is represented in the installation ‘A Botanic Dream’. Artist, Anne Griffiths will discuss her historical research into the relationship between the elite social and professional classes and the study of botany and her interest in the hybrid, whether it be the combination of historical ideas with those of the present or the fusion of art with science.

Anne will particularly reference the representation of Cassandra’s role, household responsibilities and her pastimes within the work and discuss these in the context of her life with her brother at their family estate at Wollaton and her part in its refurbishment; work which stood her in good stead when, at the age of forty-three, she married her cousin the Duke of Chandos and took on the management of not just Shaw House, which became their favourite home, but also Canons, one of the finest properties in England of its day.

Anne Griffiths is an artist whose practice is based in collections and taxonomy, she teaches and works on community engagement projects and has exhibited in Europe, US and New Zealand. Anne has a History MA and Fine Art MFA and is now studying for a PhD in Fine Art taking as a starting point the connections between eighteenth-century society and the hierarchy of Linnaean botanical taxonomy.

Age suitability (14+).

Thursday 20 February | Shaw House | 11am & 2pm | £5