The seventeenth-century Ascott House had been a farm before the Rothschild family purchased it in the nineteenth century. They used the house as a hunting lodge and gave it its rustic exterior.
In 1937 the house came into the possession of Anthony de Rothschild and Yvonne d’Anvers. They filled the house with furniture and paintings by artists including Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. But also by Dutch masters – Anthony de Rothschild was a great admirer of Aelbert Cuyp. He wasn’t the only one: Cuyp mania had gripped British collectors since the early eighteenth century.
Since the English elite were prepared to pay good money for Cuyp’s landscapes, the master’s best works can now be found in British collections. The view of Dordrecht usually hangs in the dining room at Ascott House.
From this house you will see the following work in the Mauritshuis:
- Aelbert Cuyp - View of Dordrecht from the North (c.1655)
