The Suffolk Collection is separate to the famous Iveagh Bequest of artworks at the English Heritage house and features exquisite paintings of the Earls of Suffolk and Berkshire by William Larkin. They were bequeathed by Margaret Hyde the 19th Century Countess of Suffolk - an American heiress who married into the British aristocracy. The paintings passed into her ownership after she loaned her son - the 20th Earl - a huge sum of money, which he didn't repay.
A portrait of Countess of Suffolk Margaret Hyde who bequeathed the collection to the country (Image: English Heritage) Now, painter Stephen Farthing has created four canvases that respond to the works, including a portrait of Margaret by John Singer Sargant. Strike a Pose: Stephen Farthing and the Swagger Portrait opened at the Hampstead mansion last week and includes other examples of the Royal Academician's work alongside the works that inspired them. English Heritage curator Louise Cooling says the exhibition is part of a programme to "make contemporary commissions responding to our collection.
" Staff put the finishing touches to hanging Strike A Pose, Stephen Farthing and the Swagger Portrait at Kenwood House (Image: English Heritage) "It's easy because of how wonderful the Iveagh Bequest is to overlook the collection on the first floor, but it's really wonderful. It's the largest collection by William Larkin, who is not a household name, but is arguably the most gifted portrait painter of the early Jacobean period. "W.
