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Sambourne House © Lauren Irving-Cooper

Image caption: Sambourne House © Lauren Irving-Cooper

 

At Shutter Hub, we collaborate with museums, galleries, institutions, and cultural spaces to help them reach wider audiences in an engaging, creative way and through these partnerships, we also open doors for our community to access opportunities and experiences that might otherwise remain out of reach. By creating these connections, we’re not only strengthening the visibility of the wonderful partners we work with, but also providing photographers with meaningful opportunities to explore, document, and interpret spaces of artistic, cultural, and historical significance.

Our latest collaboration saw us visit Leighton House and Sambourne House on a warm and occasionally drizzly late summer’s day in September, with a small group of Shutter Hub members, for a very special private exploration of two beautiful museum homes.

Thank you to the team at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Museums for opening the houses up to us with minimal constraints, and offering their guidance and knowledge as we explored the incredible interiors and stories the houses had to offer.

Tucked away in leafy Holland Park, Leighton House and Sambourne House are the extraordinary legacies left by Victorian artists Frederic Lord Leighton (1830-1896) and Edward Linley Sambourne (1844 -1910). The pair lived as neighbours for over 20 years, with the former the most prominent artist of his day and the latter as Chief Cartoonist for infamous satirical magazine Punch.

In the present day, Leighton House is unique among London museums in combining an exceptional collection of Victorian art with the intimacy of a private home. The Museum, finalist of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023, has recently completed a major redevelopment which has provided additional gallery space, a new café, improved facilities and a dedicated learning centre.

Down the street at 18 Stafford Terrace, Sambourne House provides a rare example of Victorian ‘Aesthetic Interior’ or ‘House Beautiful’ style. Highlights include Japanese, Middle-Eastern and Chinese ceramics, exquisite stained glass, William Morris wallpapers and a selection of Sambourne’s own photography and illustration.

The images in this feature have been reproduced with the photographers’ permission.

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