Alnwick Castle, ancestral seat of the Earls of Northumberland-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 and interior, this
dramatic stronghold and stately home is the setting for one of the most
distinguished assemblages of gems in Great Britain still in private
hands. 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 Grand Tour
of Europe while in the company of his mentor and tutor, the writer 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 in the Collection-cameos, intaglios and
finger rings of the highest quality-is considerable: Greek, Roman and
Etruscan, as well as a notable assembly of neoclassical signed gems by
British artists. One remarkable group of cameos (made, it seems, for the
Roman Emperor Octavian/Augustus) was owned by Cardinal Grimani, who
encouraged artist friends to draw the figures on them. One jewel clearly
provided inspiration for Michelangelo's painting of Adam on the Sistine
Chapel ceiling in the Vatican. The Beverley Collection has been little
known, except by connoisseurs. This lavishly illustrated volume, written
by three principal authorities on gems and semi-precious stones, brings
it to the attention of a wider audience as a demonstration of the finest
products of one of the oldest arts of the western world.
