Doddington Hall is home to a wealth of priceless artwork, from the monumental painting by Joshua Reynolds in the Long Gallery to the hand-drawn illustrations passed down through owner Claire's family.
Collected, commissioned and carefully preserved over generations, the art at Doddington Hall offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the people who have called the Hall home.
Each piece reflects a different chapter in Doddington's history, from grand portraits to personal sketches.
For more than 400 years, Doddington Hall has never been sold or cleared out. As a result, many of the paintings remain in the very rooms where they were originally hung, offering a rare insight into the artistic styles of different eras.
As you explore each room, you'll discover artwork that has remained in the house for centuries, becoming as much a part of Doddington's heritage as the Hall itself.
View the
Paintings
Experience this magnificent art collection as it was intended to be seen, displayed throughout the historic rooms of Doddington Hall.
Henry Stone’s Dog
unknown artist, c.1650-90
Assumed to be the work of a local Lincolnshire painter, this portrait depicts the dog belonging to Henry Stone of the Manor House, Skellingthorpe.
Local legend recounts that the dog saved Stone from a lightning strike by repeatedly tugging at his coat as he took aim at a pheasant perched in a tree. As Stone finally stepped away, the tree was shattered by a bolt of lightning.
The pheasant shown perched above and to the right of the dog on the branch of a blasted tree presumably serves as a reference to Stone’s narrow escape and the dog’s intelligent intervention.
Henry Stone died without heirs on 26 June 1693 at the age of sixty-two and left his estate to Christ’s Hospital. He bequeathed the portrait of his dog to his friends and neighbours, the Hussey family of Doddington.
Thomas Tailor II
attributed to Jan van Rijn, c.1620-30
This painting was initially thought to be Thomas Tailor (1561-1607), registrar to the Bishop of Lincoln, builder and first owner of Doddington Hall. It was later assumed to be Tailor’s son and heir, Thomas Tailor II (1580-1652), painted by his second wife, Jane Hollingworth. Upon his death, the Doddington Estate passed to Tailor’s niece, Elizabeth Anton, who married Sir Edward Hussey.
Sarah Hussey Delaval, Mrs Sarah Gunman
Thomas Lawrence, c.1815
Edward Delaval’s only daughter, Sarah, was married to James Gunman, a man 25 years her senior. The couple lived in Dover and became acquainted with Colonel George Ralph Payne Jarvis, the Commandant of Dover Castle. Sarah and George became romantically involved, so when James Gunman passed away in 1824, it seemed likely that George and Sarah would marry. Sadly, Sarah died of consumption less than a year after the death of her husband. Despite never marrying, Sarah bequeathed the entire Doddington Estate to George – which is why there is a break in the family ownership of the Hall.
George Ralph Payne Jarvis
unknown artist, c.1815-1820
George is Claire Birch’s 4x great grandfather. He was the youngest of 21 children born to Thomas Jarvis, the Governor of Antigua.
George arrived in England at the age of twenty-one and entered the army in 1792. He served with the 36th Foot Regiment during the Peninsular War of 1808–09, attaining the rank of major in 1810 and lieutenant colonel by 1819. In 1802 he married Philadelphia, third daughter of Ebenezer Blackwell and Mary Eden, with whom he had five sons and two daughters.
In 1830, following Philadelphia’s death, he married Frances, daughter of the Reverend John Sturges and Margaret Lowth, who was apparently the aunt of his first wife.
During his military career, Jarvis also served as commandant of Dover Castle. It was in Dover in the 1820s that George became romantically involved with Sarah Gunman. Upon Sarah’s death in 1825, George inherited her estates, including Doddington Hall, as well as the estates that had belonged to her husband, James Gunman.
Six youngest Delaval children
possibly Rhoda Delaval and Alexander or Joseph van Aken, c.1745
The children depicted in this painting are the younger Delaval siblings. Standing to the left are the twins, George and Henry, while their youngest brother, Ralph, is seated. To the right are the three younger sisters: Anne, Elizabeth Mary, and Sarah.
It has been suggested that the heads of the six children, painted on separate pieces of canvas and sewn into the larger composition, were executed by their elder sister, Rhoda Delaval (1725–1757), who would have been about twenty years old at the time.
Rhoda was studying painting and received tuition from Arthur Pond. Portraying her younger siblings would have provided valuable practice, as well as convenient and familiar sitters. The outlines of the squares of canvas sewn into the painting are still visible.
John Hussey
English School, c.1640-43
John Hussey was the second son of the first Hussey owner of Doddington, Sir Edward Hussey and Elizabeth Anton, Thomas Tailor II’s niece.
John was killed by a musket ball whilst fighting for the Royalists during the Battle of Gainsborough. The exact clothing and armour he was wearing at the time of his death are on display beside his portrait in the Hall.
Unlike many other Royalist households during the English Civil War, Doddington was not harmed. This is potentially because John’s elder brother’s wife remarried after his death to a general in the Parliamentarian Army, so there was almost a foot in both camps.
John Delaval
attributed to Benjamin Wilson, c.1760
John Delaval inherited Doddington from his parents instead of his elder brother, Sir Francis, who was a theatrical gambler and inheritor of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland.
John proved to be a far more conscientious custodian than his brother would have been. Deeply attached to Doddington, he left his mark more indelibly on the Hall than any other owner.
His restrained and elegant redecoration of the interiors in the 1760s remains largely intact today, including the staircase, while many of the finest paintings and pieces of furniture at Doddington derive from his collection.
The Angel Appearing to Hagar and Ishmael
Marcantonio Franchesini, c.1705
The subject of this painting, a theme popular in seventeenth-century Italian art, is drawn from the Book of Genesis. It recounts the story of Hagar, the Egyptian servant who bears Abraham’s son, Ishmael, while Abraham’s wife, Sarah, remains childless.
Years later, after Sarah gives birth to Isaac, she insists that Abraham cast Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness. Deprived of food and water and facing death, Hagar prays for divine assistance. As depicted in Franceschini’s painting, an angel appears and guides her to a source of water, saving both her life and that of her weary son.
Formerly attributed to Guido Reni, the painting has since been reassigned to the Bolognese artist Marcantonio Franceschini (1648–1729). More recently, it has undergone conservation and extensive technical examinations at the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge.
Lord and Lady Pollington, Later Earl and Countess of Mexborough
Joshua Reynolds, c.1761-1764
Joshua Reynold’s painting depicts John Delaval’s favourite sister, Sarah, and her husband John Savile, with their son. The family are dressed in coronation robes for the coronation of George III in 1761.
John Savile, who married Sarah Delaval in January 1760, had been elevated to the Irish peerage as Lord Pollington of Longford in 1753, and in February 1766 was further created first Earl of Mexborough of Lifford, County Donegal.
The painting has likely hung in the Long Gallery at Doddington from the time it was finished by Reynolds. In the 1980s, it was sold to the nation in settlement of a death duty bill but remains on display at Doddington Hall on loan from Temple Newsam, Leeds.
Thinking about
stopping by?
With so much to do at Doddington, it can be hard to fit everything into just one day. So here are a few useful things to know before you set off:
Art & The
Country House
In 2020, Doddington Hall was selected alongside 7 other British country houses to be part of Art & the Country House’s extensive online library of artwork. The publication - edited by Martin Postle of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art - aims to create a vast catalogue of artwork from the 16th century onwards for the purpose of preservation, study and comparison.
Doddington Hall
Conservation
The Doddington Conservation Charity was conceived to conserve, restore, enhance and protect the natural and cultural heritage of Doddington for the long-term benefit of the wider community.
Discover more
Collections
Wagon Collection
Located in our Stable Yard, the Doddington Wagon Shed houses a fascinating collection of English farm wagons, collected by Claire’s father, Antony Jarvis, since the 1960s.
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Uniform Collection
The MC Tsen Military Uniform Collection features an impressive array of uniforms, accessories and memorabilia, offering a fascinating insight into military history.
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Tapestries Collection
If walls could talk… Three of the bedrooms at Doddington Hall are decorated with the most incredible Flemish tapestries, dating back to the 17th century.
View this Collection
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