T A Hanging Matter

A HANGING MATTER

By the Master of Pictures and Director of the Treasury Office

H M Queen Elizabeth II dining at the Inner Temple 17 December 1966 by Terence Cuneo

To the outsider, the task of re-hanging the Inn’s distinguished collection of paintings might have appeared to be a straightforward matter involving calculation of the number of old paintings displaced by reconfiguration of the Treasury Building as against the number of new spaces made available. Quite easy one might think! In fact, the task involved many hidden complexities, many choices that only became apparent once detailed planning of the re-hang began, in preparation for reinstatement of the Treasury Building. The refurbished Treasury Building prompted a challenge to previous assumptions and encouraged a comprehensive re-visit to the presentation of this important collection in the unique hanging space afforded by the Inn.

A significant early decision was made by the Project Pegasus Interior Design Sub-Committee not to hang original works from the existing collection on the third and fourth floors. Rather, the reception spaces and training rooms would provide an ideal opportunity to create displays of images from the archives to inform particularly student members and to stimulate curiosity about the Inn’s history and estate, with copies of the irreplaceable royal letters, precious illuminated manuscripts, and early maps and drawings including the Temple Church and Garden. The fourth floor reception space with its glass roof and stone walls was a perfect setting for a Warholesque exhibition of Inner Temple ‘Firsts’ bringing to light the range of achievements by the Inn’s global membership. Crucial to those displays, ultimately devised by museum display designer John Ronayne, were the research and editorial work by the Archivist, Celia Pilkington, and by Kate Peters in the Treasury Office. Sincere thanks are also due to Master John Baker for his patient, erudite research into attribution and provenance for labelling purposes. The fourth floor reception space with its glass roof and stone walls was a perfect setting for a Warholesque exhibition of Inner Temple ‘Firsts’ bringing to light the range of achievements by the Inn’s global membership.

The paper planning exercise in the abstract, for the re-hang of over 130 portraits and other pictures (many of which had been donated to the Inn by past members or families of the subjects), was daunting. It was only on in-person viewing inside the refurbished Treasury Building, access to which continued to be restricted even after commencement of the reinstatement, that the physical display truly took shape and the aesthetics of the plan became obvious.

It was clear from the outset that the imposing portraits of Lord Chancellors dating back to the 16th century, the Geoffrey Kneller royal portraits, and the four large and extremely heavy portraits (over 130kgs each) of Inner Temple ‘Fire Judges’ by renowned 17th century portraitist John Michael Wright, were best suited in their former positions in the Hall. While much has changed in the Treasury Building, a deliberate decision was made to retain certain works in their old places, familiar to the Members. Certain other groupings likewise: the Luncheon Room collection of views of the Garden, Temple Bar, Temple Church, and the wider estate curated by the former Master of Pictures, Master Tom Shields, has been rehung as before, maintaining its particular, timeless charm. Similarly, the 16th and 17th portraits in the Parliament Chamber, including that of jurist, polymath and scholar, John Selden (attributed to Sir Anthony Van Dyck), sit very well beside the newly conserved over-mantle Grinling Gibbons wood carving.

The elegant setting of the Drawing Room, with its 19th-21st century portraits of distinguished advocates and judges, including Clement Attlee, Edward Marshall-Hall KC, Master Higgins (Her Excellency Dame Rosalyn Higgins GBE KC JSD FBA) and Master Woolf (The Rt Hon the Lord Woolf of Barnes CH FBA), invited sympathetic review. New clusters of smaller paintings now add further interest to the room, complementing the ‘drawing room’ style. A portrait of past Treasurer Master Griffiths (The Rt Hon The Lord Griffiths MC) given to the Inn by his widow, now has greater prominence among familiar faces.

One of the most exciting aspects of the re-hang was positioning works on the new staircase. We are extremely fortunate to have available the large portraits of Sir Edward Coke, Sir Thomas Littleton, Sir Henry Rolle and Sir Thomas Streete. The scale and grandeur of these pieces are surprisingly well-complemented by the recently cleaned, repaired, and conserved carved marble Pegasus by Johannes Michel Rysbrack. Commissioned by Benchers of the Inn in 1737, the Pegasus, though badly damaged in the war, survived the Blitz, and having now been stripped of its somewhat clumsy post-war repair work, has been beautifully conserved by Cliveden Conservation. Members will be moved to see how simple and effective this striking relief appears, flying high on the north elevation. Opposite is a striking glass screen depicting a contemporary interpretation of the Pegasus to announce the new Education and Training centre.

Another interesting area was the new main entrance hall. Given the painted panelled walls which lend themselves less well to a busy hang of paintings, a more minimalist approach has been taken to the ground floor, where the Inn’s first female Treasurer Master Elizabeth Butler-Sloss (The Rt Hon The Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE) is now, rightly, prominently on display. The Terence Cuneo painting of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II dining in Hall on 17 December 1966, is now on more public view in the main entrance. Henry Arthur Payne’s fine watercolour ‘Choosing the Red and White Roses in the Temple Gardens’, a study for a fresco by Payne in the East Corridor of the Palace of Westminster, provides a rich and intense focus of colour and is much enhanced by the space and lighting in the entrance area.

Paintings store in Treasury Office

Other paintings formerly sited on the ground floor may now be viewed in their new homes on mid-floor landings and on the new third flight of stairs. Changes to the first floor corridor and Ante Room include the highly effective re-hanging of the Andrew Festing portrait of Sir Peter Taylor, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales 1992 – 96. This is best viewed from the opposite end of the corridor where it is a striking, powerful presence, particularly when lit, after dark. The portrait of Master Higgins by Joel Ely has relocated to the Ante Room where it may be viewed from the Hall. The Ante Room also houses a reimagined grouping of former Lord Chancellors, Masters Irving, Straw and Falconer and affords a better position to the portrait of Royal Bencher, HRH The Prince Philip between the large windows. The 2001 David Cobley portrait of Master Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has been fittingly re-positioned on the third floor by the new education and training spaces, officially reopened by Her Royal Highness on 4 May 2022.

Dame Elizabeth Lane, the first woman appointed as a judge in the County Court, the first female High Court Judge in England and the first female Bencher, now hangs in a new space near the Drawing Room. Nearby, dominating the space rather in the manner of an ecclesiastical painting from a much earlier age, is the striking 2018 commission ‘Five Supreme Court Judges’ by Howard Morgan RP who sadly did not live to see it framed and hung. The Pegasus and other flying objects abound in the painting of the ‘Supremes’, as they are affectionately known, and make the dramatic, unorthodox portrait an interesting addition to the collection.

Lord Taylor of Gosforth

Restored Grinling Gibbons wood carving in the Parliament Chamber

Painting of HRH The Princess Royal Five Supreme Court Judges by Howard Morgan The Rt Hon the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE

First floor with portrait of Elizabeth Lane to the left

Marrying the old and the new © James Brittain Dame Elizabeth Lane, the first woman appointed as a judge in the County Court, the first female High Court Judge in England and the first female Bencher, now hangs in a new space near the Drawing Room.

A wholesale re-hang of the staircase behind the Library, now less used due to the new main entrance to the Library at the south of the Treasury Building, has led to the creation of the Gandhi Suite – a meeting room in the Buttery with adjoining small ante room, where the bronze bas relief of Gandhi on a wooden mount presented to the Inn after he was readmitted to the Inn, is on display. The suite will soon contain a display of copied documents relating to Gandhi’s admission to the Inn.

Though conservation work to the Inn’s large collection has been continuing for many years, Project Pegasus provided a timely opportunity for several of the large and not easily accessible Hall portraits and their frames to be cleaned and conserved – as advised in condition reports prepared by conservator Hamish Dewar. Whilst much work has been done, some of the older and more fragile paintings will need to be assessed regularly to preserve this legacy for future generations of Members to learn about and enjoy. It is fair to say that in our view it has been learning and enjoyment that has characterised the re-hanging task undertaken for project Pegasus – no mention of which would be complete without particular mention of Chezzy Brownen who, with unfailing charm, project-managed reinstatement of the Treasury Building, working tirelessly with art handlers, carpenters, electricians and SRM contractors to make this satisfying, and we trust, inspiring endeavour possible.

The Hon Mrs Justice Alison Foster DBE

Master of Pictures

Henrietta Amodio

Director of the Treasury Office