Editing Althorp (section)

=====Sitting and drawing rooms=====
[[File:The west side of Althorp House from the Stables.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|View of the side of Althorp House from the stables]]

The south drawing room is at the front of the house on the West Wing. In earlier times the room had served as a dining room, despite it being about as far from the kitchen as possible.<ref name="South Drawing Room">{{cite web|url=http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-home/the-south-drawing-room |title=The South Drawing Room |publisher=Spencerofalthorp.com |access-date=20 May 2014 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627102958/http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-home/the-south-drawing-room |archive-date=27 June 2015 }}</ref> This section of the house was largely remodelled under Henry Holland,<ref name="Listed Althorp">{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-359990-althorp-house-althorp-northamptonshire |title=Althorp House, Althorp|publisher=British Listed Buildings|access-date=20 May 2014}}</ref> but it retains its Georgian elegance today, "gilded to within an inch of its life", with walls painted in a duck egg blue colour with forest green drapery and peach-patterned sofas.{{sfn|Spencer|1998|pp=11, 128}} A large mirror with an exquisite gold frame stands between the two windows. The fireplace was added by the [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] [[stonemason]] [[Lancelot Edward Wood]] in 1802, and the ceiling by master builder [[Benjamin Broadbent (builder)|Benjamin Broadbent]] of Leicester in 1865.<ref name="Listed Althorp"/> The ceiling in the yellow drawing room,<ref name="Spencer1986">{{harvnb|Spencer|1986|page=6}}</ref> also known as the Rubens room because of its four [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] paintings,<ref name="King1989">{{cite book|last=King|first=Norman|title=Two royal women|url=https://archive.org/details/tworoyalwomen0000king|url-access=registration|date=1 April 1989|publisher=Wynwood Press|isbn=978-0-922066-06-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/tworoyalwomen0000king/page/36 36]}}</ref> is also attributed to Broadbent.{{sfn|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=81}} There are numerous paintings on the walls, including fifteen Joshua Reynolds portraits and a miniature portrait in one of the alcoves of Admiral [[Lord Nelson]], an associate of George John, Second Earl Spencer.<ref name="South Drawing Room"/> Although Higgerson, the night watchman, guarded the place from 8 pm to 8 am, in 1954 one of the lesser valuable paintings in the south drawing room was stolen in the night.{{sfn|Spencer|1998|p=10}}

The grandmother's sitting room is situated at the front of the eastern wing. It is noted for its deep blue hand-painted frescoes and formal furniture, and was the favourite room of Charles and Diana's grandmother, [[Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer]].{{sfn|Spencer|1998|pp=4–5}} Nearby was the Muniment room in which the Spencer family records were kept, described as a "musty apartment" which contained over 500 years of history, from medieval household accounts to letters from Jacobeans and accounts of Victorian house parties. The room was a favourite haunt of Spencer's grandfather, Albert Spencer, who would spend thousands of hours in it perusing over the family history. So guarded was he of the collection that when [[Winston Churchill]] once spent time in the room looking for information on his ancestor, [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]] (1650–1722), Albert immediately doused out his cigar in fear of creating a fire.{{sfn|Spencer|1998|p=5}} The records were sold to the [[British Library]] in the 1980s, leaving the room empty, before it was converted to what is known as the "Steward's Room Flat".{{sfn|Spencer|1998|p=141}} This part of the house once had an extensive collection of 1830s bull paintings by [[Richard Ansdell]].{{sfn|Spencer|1998|pp=142–43}}

The Sutherland room lies at the rear east wing of the house and was once the bedroom of the Earl of Althorp in the first few centuries of the house when it was fashionable for the occupants to sleep on the ground floor and guests to sleep on the first floor. This was still the case during the Holland restoration, and as a result the room was ignored, so it retains many of the earlier mouldings not seen in many other parts of the house.<ref name="Sutherland Room">{{cite web|url=http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-home/the-sunderland-room |title=The Sutherland Room |publisher=Spencerofalthorp.com |access-date=20 May 2014 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406012538/http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-home/the-sunderland-room |archive-date=6 April 2015 }}</ref> It contains two fireplaces made by John Vardy and James Stuart which were originally situated in Spencer House, and the room has the original 17th-century cornice. The paintings in the room were selected by the current owner Charles Spencer to honour John, Third Earl Spencer and his passion for foxhunting.<ref name="Sutherland Room"/> After it ceased usage as a bedroom, on special occasions the room would be full of life; on Christmas Day the room would be "transformed into a Christmas fairyland, with clockwork Santas, snowmen and angels all spinning and chiming in the candlelight". The children would have their places marked by a small cake with their names written on it in icing.{{sfn|Spencer|1998|p=115}}

The Marlborough room, which contains the great parlour, is named after [[Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough]],<ref name="Marlborough Room">{{cite web|url=http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-home/the-marlborough-room |title=The Marlborough Room |publisher=Spencerofalthorp.com |access-date=20 May 2014 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627114425/http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-home/the-marlborough-room |archive-date=27 June 2015 }}</ref> and is situated next to the Sunderland room and at left angles to the library.{{sfn|Hill|Cornforth|1966|p=219}}{{sfn|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=80}} The Marlborough room served as an "uncomfortable" drawing room until the 1990s when a Victorian rosewood dining table accommodating for up to 42 people was added, with 'squiggle-back' chairs attributed to [[George Seddon (cabinetmaker)|George Seddon]] in 1800.<ref name="Marlborough Room"/> The new room was created after alterations were made to the large drawing room by the 6th Earl Spencer in 1911, including the removal of a dividing partition from the old billiard room.{{sfn|Country Life|1960|p=1188}}{{sfn|Gotch|1936|p=70}} Part of the restoration work attributed to the 7th Earl Spencer after 1957 includes a replacement of two Victorian chimney pieces in the Marlborough room with those from Spencer House, one which was crafted by [[Peter Scheemakers]].{{sfn|Pearson|2011|p=15}} Portraits by [[Thomas Gainsborough]], Joshua Reynolds, and [[George Romney (painter)|George Romney]], mostly of family members, adorn the walls, and accessions from the Spencer House are placed throughout.{{sfn|Country Life|1960|p=1188}}{{sfn|Kane|1986|p=208}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1955|p=141}}

<div style="text-align:center">
'''Examples of paintings at Althorp'''
<gallery mode="packed" heights="210">
File:Reynolds - Lavinia, Countess Spencer.jpg|''Portrait of Lavinia Bingham, Countess Spencer'' by [[Sir Joshua Reynolds]] (1781–1782)
File:Shorthorn bull portrait.jpg|''Shorthorn bull portrait'' by an unknown artist (before 1845)
File:Lady Georgiana Poyntz.jpg|''Portrait of Lady Margaret Georgiana Poyntz'' by [[Pompeo Batoni]] (c.1764)
File:Johnspencer1708.jpg|''The Hon. John Spencer (1708–1746), his son the 1st Earl Spencer (1734–1783) and their servant, Caesar Shaw'' by [[George Knapton]] (c.1744)
</gallery>
</div>