• Date: c.1672
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Artist: Johannes Vermeer

This painting is an exquisite work of art, perfectly capturing a moment in time. It is one of only 36 known paintings by Vermeer, an artist who specialised in depicting everyday life in domestic interiors. A young girl, possibly his daughter Maria, is interrupted from her guitar playing, as the string continues to vibrate. Vermeer has seated the girl so far to the left that her arm is cropped by the edge of the painting.

• Date: c.1764
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Bath
• Artist: Thomas Gainsborough

Lady Howe accompanied her husband to the spa town of Bath, where he ‘took the waters’ to relieve his gout. While there, she and her husband were painted by the fashionable portraitist Gainsborough. This elegant portrait (only his third life-size full-length painting) was inspired by the work of Van Dyck and shows Lady Howe in a fashionable pink silk dress with triple lace ruffles and a wide straw bonnet.

• Date: c.1665–8
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Amsterdam
• Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn

One of the world’s greatest masterpieces, this painting is arguably the definitive self-portrait by Rembrandt. It was painted in later life when he was impoverished and alone. He is depicted in his studio, in his working clothes of a fur-trimmed gown (known as a tabard) and white linen cap. He holds a palette, brushes and mahlstick (a support for his painting hand) – the attributes of his profession.

• Date: c.1790
• Type: Furniture
• Material: Mahogany
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: John England & Son

This chamber organ was acquired to replace an untraced but almost identical organ originally supplied for the Music Room by the rival firm of Robert and William Gray in 1796. It was an integral part of the Music Room’s furnishings. 

• Date: 1613
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: William Larkin

Richard Sackville gambled heavily and spent his family fortune on extravagant living. By the time of his death, aged 35, he had mortgaged his family property, Knole (near Sevenoaks in Kent).

This lavish depiction shows him dressed for the royal wedding of James I’s daughter. His elaborately embroidered velvet hose would have been filled out with bombast, consisting of such materials as raw cotton, wool, horsehair and even grain.

• Date: 1782
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

The society beauty Sophia Musters is depicted on Mount Olympus as Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth and cupbearer to Zeus. She feeds nectar to one of Zeus’s eagles, while the mountain’s strong winds rustle through her drapery and hair. Unhappily married to John ‘Squire’ Musters, Sophia attracted many admirers, including the Prince of Wales (later George IV).

• Date: c.1614-18
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: William Larkin

Diana was a celebrated beauty and one of the three daughters of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter. She may be as young as 12 years old in this painting and possibly wears a bridesmaid’s dress for the wedding of her older sister Elizabeth to Thomas Howard, the future Earl of Berkshire. There is a pendant portrait of her sister Anne, who is portrayed in an almost identical dress.

• Date: 1633
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Haarlem
• Artist: Frans Hals

We can see from his lively pose, weather-beaten complexion, tousled hair and smiling eyes that we are meeting a successful and satisfied merchant seaman. Van den Broecke is shown wearing a golden chain, which marked his 17 years of service for the Dutch East India Company, the largest trading company in Asia at the time. The artist and sitter were close friends of a similar age; both at the height of their careers when the painting was made.

• Date: 1776
• Type: Sculpture
• Material: Marble
• Place Made/Found: Rome
• Artist: Michael Foye

Lindsay was a naval captain, the nephew of the 1st earl of Mansfield and the father of Dido Elizabeth Belle, his mixed-race daughter with a young black woman called Maria. Dido was brought up at Kenwood by Lindsay's aunt and uncle.

It is probable that Lindsay sat for this portrait in Italy, as both he and the Irish sculptor Foye were in Rome in 1775. He wears the Star of a Knight of the Bath.

• Date: c.1784–5
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: George Romney

Amy Lyon, later called Emma Hart and Lady Hamilton, was the daughter of a Cheshire blacksmith. Here she is depicted in a rural setting, with a simple white dress and her head modestly covered with a scarf. Romney was smitten with Emma’s beauty and produced many sketches and oil paintings of his muse. There is a strong artistic tradition of ladies at spinning wheels, which derives from 17th-century Dutch art.

• Date: c.1655
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Dordrecht
• Artist: Aelbert Cuyp

A large proportion of this painting depicts the sky. The scene shows a golden summer evening on the river de Oude Maas at Dordrecht, in the Netherlands, with the customs house and church (Grootekerk) to the left. The two-masted schooner flying Dutch colours contrasts with the humble fishermen on rafts and the fishing boats at their moorings. The picture is signed ‘A cuyp’ on an oar.

• Date: Early 19th century
• Type: Furniture
• Material: Mahogany, beech, hair-cloth and brass
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: John Joseph Merlin

Merlin was an inventor who set up his own business in 1773. This type of early wheelchair, known as an invalid or ‘Gouty’ chair, was popular throughout the 19th century. Several chairs were made with extra features, such as falling backs, additional leg boards, adjustable tables and reading desks. Merlin also popularised roller skates, made musical instruments and invented a form of scales for weighing people, as well as producing a number of specialised watches and clocks.

• Date: c.1700
• Type: Clock
• Material: Ormolu (gilt bronze), boulle
• Place Made/Found: Paris
• Artist: Jean-Issac Godde

This French bracket clock formerly belonged to Kenwood's collection. The 2nd Earl of Mansfield was a noted collector and ambassador to Paris from 1772 to 1778, which gave him ample opportunity to purchase items of this kind. His son, the 3rd Earl, also collected French items, especially boulle (a form of decorative inlaid work using brass and tortoiseshell). The domed case is surmounted by a figure of Mars, the Roman god of war, in ormolu (a gold-coloured alloy of copper, zinc and tin).

• Date: 1834
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Edwin Landseer

This dramatic scene shows a trained hawk bringing down a heron. Hawking was a favourite medieval sport. The hawking party, led by a young nobleman on a white horse, may be guests from the distant castle, where tents suggest a tournament in progress. This was one of several Highland hunting scenes painted by Landseer after visiting the novelist Sir Walter Scott at his Gothic-style house, Abbotsford, in the Scottish borders in 1824.

• Date: 1630
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on oak panel
• Place Made/Found: Haarlem
• Artist: Claude de Jongh

London Bridge was a significant landmark of the city, employing many people in its construction and maintenance. It was a busy thoroughfare lined with shops and is known to have supported houses up to seven storeys tall. The artist adapted the bridge’s scale and detail, possibly to fit a particular space, such as over a door. A funeral procession in the foreground leads the viewer’s eye into the detail of the bridge.

• Date: 1773
• Type: Chimneypiece
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Robert Adam and Sefferin Nelson

In 1773 the Upper Hall, an additional reception room, was referred to as the 'Chinese Room' because of its remodelling by Adam in the then fashionable chinoiserie style. The chimneypiece contains rare painted marble tiles and the carved decoration includes a cherub riding on a shell drawn by seahorses. A design by Adam for this chimneypiece survives in Sir John Soane's Museum.

• Date: 1650s
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Utrecht
• Artist: Jan Baptist Weenix

In this group portrait, a successful Dutch merchant poses with his family. They are standing in an entirely fictitious coastal setting, including Roman ruins and sculpture. Our eyes are led by the merchant’s hand and the arch of the dog’s back to a pile of barrels and sacks of cargo, which reveal the sitter’s occupation.

• Date: 1779
• Type: Bust
• Material: Marble
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Joseph Nollekens

William Murray acquired Kenwood in 1754 and rose to be Lord Chief Justice and 1st Earl of Mansfield. He is shown in the style of classical antiquity, with close-cropped hair and conventional classical drapery over his shoulders. Nollekens was an accomplished modeller and cutter in marble, whose work was in great demand on his return from Rome in 1770. This bust was recorded as being between the far pillars of the library at Kenwood in 1781.

• Date: 1773–4
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

Anna Maria Tollemache was married in the same year as this portrait, which shows her in the role of Miranda in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. Miranda has just seen her future husband, Ferdinand, who has arrived by sea from Naples and is the first young man she has ever met. Miranda’s father, Prospero, watches from behind a tree, while Caliban – Prospero’s slave – crouches at Miranda’s feet.

This subject matter was consistent with Reynolds’s ambition to show his sitters in dramatic settings that elevated them from the everyday.

• Date: c.1730–31
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Charles Jervas

In this portrait, Elizabeth Finch (known as Lady Betty) is shown on the left, beside her sister Henrietta. As the daughter of an earl, her decision to marry the young lawyer William Murray in 1738 was regarded by some as an unsuitable match.

The black colour of her dress is a later addition and may relate to the death of her father in 1730.

• Date: c.1635
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Antwerp
• Artist: Frans Snyders

In this painting, an estate steward and his wife deliver food to their employer. This representation of food would have whetted the appetite of dinner guests. It also reflected the aspirations of the wealthy members of the Flemish merchant class, who were often Snyder’s patrons, and who wished to adopt the activities – such as hunting – that were associated with the nobility. The painting was originally attributed to both Snyders and his master, Rubens.

• Date: c.1810
• Type: Miniature
• Material: Watercolour on ivory with gold frame

The fashion for making sentimental jewellery of a single eye – usually a lady’s – was started by George Engleheart when he painted the eye of Mrs Fitzherbert for George, Prince of Wales. The fashion proved to be short-lived and such miniatures were no longer produced after about 1820. The broad, washy technique and the hair curled around the eye dates this example to about 1810.

• Date: c.1738
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Jean-Baptiste van Loo and John Giles Eccardt

William Murray was a brilliant scholar and orator and a leading lawyer, rising to the position of Lord Chief Justice. He bought Kenwood in 1754 and spent time there with his wife and great-nieces, who both grew up under his care. He commissioned the Adam brothers to remodel the house into a fashionable neoclassical villa. Van Loo painted several portraits of him.

• Date: 1759
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

Kitty (Catherine) Fisher sat regularly to Joshua Reynolds from 1759 until her death in 1767. She was a celebrated courtesan (prostitute). Reynolds paints her as the famous Egyptian beauty Queen Cleopatra, who seduced the Roman general Mark Antony. At a banquet she is said to have dissolved a magnificent pearl earring in wine and drunk it, in an extravagant gesture of seduction.

• Date: c.1782–3
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1783 and simply entitled ‘Children’. There is a pyramidal structure to the work, with the little dog looking at Juliana, who in turn looks at her younger brother, John. The dramatic lighting, red velvet suit and auburn curls draw our attention to the male heir. The children’s father, John Julius Angerstein, was a Russian immigrant who joined Lloyd’s as an insurance underwriter.

• Date: c.1790
• Type: Miniature
• Material: Watercolour on ivory, gold, pearls
• Artist: Andrew Plimer

Elizabeth Farren was one of the most celebrated actresses and beauties of the later 18th century. She often portrayed upper-class characters and lived out that role by marrying the 12th Earl of Derby in 1797.

This portrait was completed before her marriage. Her long hair, piled up in great curls, and her white gown are the ideal of feminine beauty at that time. The gold locket set with pearls that houses the portrait is of a later date.

• Date: c.1781–2
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds

These two lively boys – William (aged five) and George (three) – show Reynolds’s rapport with small children. They are depicted in petticoats, a style that was common for boys before the age of about six, when they began to wear trousers. The younger brother was later known as ‘Beau’ Brummell. He became a close friend of King George IV and a leader of fashionable taste.

• Date: 1634
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Brussels
• Artist: Anthony Van Dyck

Henrietta’s sister Margaret secretly married Gaston, duc d’Orleans, younger brother of Louis XIII. The childless king viewed this marriage as a threat. He declared it invalid, banned his brother, Margaret and Henrietta from France, and confiscated their property.

This painting was completed during Henrietta’s exile in Brussels. The name of the black page is unknown. At this time it was fashionable for lords and ladies to have black domestic servants, dressed in fancy clothes and indicating wealth and status.

• Date: After 1912
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Artist: Henry Marriott Paget after Arthur Stockdale Cope

Kenwood was saved from developers by the brewing magnate Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, who opened the house and estate for the enjoyment of the public. Lord Iveagh bequeathed 63 paintings from his own collection, including many masterpieces. In this portrait he wears the ball dress uniform of an honorary lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, showing the blue sash and Star of the Order of St Patrick.

• Date: 1785–92
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: London
• Artist: John Hoppner

Mrs Jordan, born Dorothy Bland, was the greatest comic actress of her time. Hoppner paints her as Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which was one of her most famous roles. It is likely that the sitter was already the lover of William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV), with whom she had ten children before their abrupt separation in 1811.