Beverley Collection of Gems at Alnwick Castle
The Beverley Gem Collection at Alnwick Castle is one of the most distinguished in Great Britain still in private hands.
Alnwick Castle, ancestral seat of the Earls of Northumberland - and the House of Percy - was built as a border fortress against the Scots in the twelfth century, if not earlier. Substantially enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and remaining in Percy family hands to this day, it stands now as a prime example of robust stone defensive architecture. Much visited and admired for its impressive exterior, this dramatic stronghold and stately home is the setting for this collection.
The Beverley Collection reflects the longstanding interest of the English nobility in both accumulating and commissioning gemstones. The Collection was begun by the First Duchess of Northumberland in the early eighteenth century; but the greater part of it was made later in the century by Algernon Percy, First Earl of Beverley, during a tour of Europe while in the company of his mentor, Louis Dutens. Their success in France and Italy was such that it incited the jealousy of the Empress Catherine of Russia, herself a passionate collector.
The range of objects - cameos, intaglios and finger rings of the highest quality - is considerable: Greek, Roman and Etruscan, as well as a notable assemblage of neoclassical signed gems by British artists. One jewel clearly provided inspiration for Michelangelo's painting of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
The Collection has been little known, except by connoisseurs, but this volume brings to the attention of a broader audience many of the finest products of one of the oldest arts of the western world.
Diana Scarisbrick, a noted authority on engraved gems and jewellery of all periods, is a Research Associate of the Beazley Archive in the University of Oxford. Her many publications include Finger Rings: Ancient and Modern (2006) and Rings: Miniature Monuments to Love, Power and Devotion (2014).
Claudia Wagner is a Senior Researcher at the Beazley Archive, where she directs the gems databases and research programme, and Senior Research Lecturer at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She is co-author (with John Boardman) of The Marlborough Gems (2009).
Sir John Boardman, FBA, is Emeritus Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art in the University of Oxford. His many books include Greek Gems and Finger Rings (2001), The Greeks Overseas (1999), Greek Art (2012), The History of Greek Vases (2006), and The World of Ancient Art (2006).
The three authors collectively wrote The Guy Ladriere Collection of Gems and Rings (published by Philip Wilson Publishers in 2015).