THOMAS BARBER (1768-1843)

Mrs Garnett (c.1800)

Oil on canvas (89,5 x 69 cm)

Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, UK

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Mrs. Garnett was the housekeeper at Kedleston between 1766 and 1809. This is a surprising length of time for one who must have risen to this post from other duties, which perhaps accounted for her already seeming old in 1777 when she took Samuel Johnson and James Boswell around the house:

Our names were sent up, and a well-dressed elderly housekeeper, a most distinct articulator, shew us the house….We saw a good many fine pictures…There is a printed catalogue of them which the housekeeper put into my hand; I would like to view them at leisure

Two years earlier, Mrs Garnett had made an equally favourable impression on William Bray: The uncommon politeness and attention of the housekeeper, who showed it, added not a little to the entertainment. James Plumptre’s enthusiastic account in 1793 implies how different Mrs Garnett was from most of her kind:

We entered the House at the Servant’s Hall, by a door under the Portico, put down our names, and then were shewn up into the Grand Hall, where the Housekeeper joined us. Of all the Housekeepers I ever met at a Nobleman’s House, this was the most obliging and intelligent I ever saw. There was a pleasing civility in her manner which was very ingratiating, she seemed to take a delight in her business, was willing to answer any questions which were asked her, and was studious to shew the best lights for viewing the pictures and setting off the furniture

It was an important part of the business of house servants – and generally of the housekeeper – to show respectable visitors around notable houses. There are records of a party going to view Helmingham in Suffolk as early as 1657 and of perfect strangers being shown around Clayton in Buckinghamshire in 1681. During the 18th century, it was very unusual to find a catalogue of the paintings on display in a great house; only the most passionate art collectors would have a catalogue of their paintings printed in the form of a modest book or brochure for the visitors. The practice of putting labels on the frames started in the 19th century.

Although based in Nottingham, Thomas Barber had a considerable practice among the local aristocracy, and one by no means restricted to portraits of servants. There are a number of portraits by him at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and Shugborough in Staffordshire, as well as at Kedleston, but it is Mrs Garnett who perhaps best exemplifies both his provincial honesty and his sympathy for such a nice sitter.