Beauty Debauchery and Decadence at Hampton Court

Beauty Debauchery and Decadence at Hampton Court | A young woman walks through a blanket of snow covering the gardens of Hampton Court Palace, Surrey. The historic royal residence continues to welcome visitors, despite the inclement weather. (c) Nick Wilkinson/newsteam.co.uk (p) GoUK.com

What

The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned exhibition

When

5 April to 30 September 2012

Where

Hampton Court Palace, Surrey

The Fanfare

Hampton Court Palace is to host a new exhibition from April about the beauty, debauchery and decadent art of the late Stuart court.

From 5 April to 30 September 2012, The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned looks at the meaning of beauty, and at the lives and loves of the courtesans and libertines in the Stuart court during the period 1660–1714, through the reigns of King Charles II, James II, William III & Mary II and Queen Anne.

The exhibition will show how kings, queens and courtesans swept away the Puritanical solemnity of the mid-17th century and tried to rewrite the moral code of social behaviour.

In the Queen’s State apartments visitors will learn about the beauty secrets of the day, study the fashions and elegance of court life, and learn what happened when beauty faded, and how the virtuous ladies of the court were rewarded by obscurity and a life of vice led to syphilis and death.

Charles II, the ‘merry monarch’, ruled for 25 flamboyant, indulgent and decadent years and pursued beauty in all its forms.

He ruled over a court famous for its elegance and its magnificence, and collected artworks and mistresses with equal enthusiasm.

He fathered a dozen illegitimate children, but left no legitimate heirs.

The exhibition will include portraits of his principal mistresses including Nell Gwyn and Barbara Villiers, as well as some of the resident ‘beautiful women’ of the royal court.

Brett Dolman, Historic Royal Palaces exhibition curator, says:

‘Visitors to the exhibition will discover that ‘beauty’ is not just an aesthetic experience: it is an instrument of ambition, a conduit to pleasure and a magnet for sleaze. This is a story about great art, but also about mistresses and adultery. Visitors will understand what beauty meant and how it was used in the late 17th and early 18th centuries…In the Restoration court, women used their beauty to command a new personal and political influence at the heart of government, but were themselves chased and abused, and pilloried as whores.’

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is a 35-minute rail journey from London’s Waterloo Station.

In the summer river boats run on the Thames from Westminster, Richmond-upon-Thames and Kingston-upon-Thames.

The Palace is open daily 10am–6pm, admission £15.40 adults, £7.70 children under 16.

The price includes tours, audio guides and special presentations during the school holidays.

The exhibition will close at 9.30pm on the first Monday of each month May to September

Hampton Court Palace, Surrey KT8 9AU
Tel: +44 844 482 7777 (tickets)
+44 20 3166 6000 (from outside the UK)
Website: www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace
Facebook: Historic Royal Palaces
Twitter: @HRP_palaces
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