Lady Anne Clifford: Building Attributes

Lady Anne Clifford: Building Attributes is a pop up exhibition presenting four architectural models inspired by Anne Clifford’s fight to reclaim her inherited estates. The models – representing the castles at Brough, Skipton, and Pendragon, and the Countess Pillar near Brougham – have been designed by Ines Omvik, an architecture student at Oslo School of Architecture and Design. The models act as extensions to Abbot Hall’s Great Picture, responding to references to the estates in Anne’s diaries, and exploring Anne’s engagement with architectural history and conservation.

Anne Clifford, a key figure in Cumbrian history, was a strong woman who came up against every obstacle, including King James, in her battle to reclaim her inheritance. When Anne was 15, her father George Clifford died, leaving the family’s vast estates his brother, Anne’s uncle, Francis Clifford. This was a direct breach of an inheritance rule which said that the Clifford estates should descend to the eldest child, whether male or female. Anne finally came into her inheritance in her 50s – but only after spending decades fighting for what was rightfully hers. The monumental painting The Great Picture was commissioned by Anne to celebrate and confirm her rightful inheritance, using a combination of portraiture, text, and symbolism.This exhibition is a collaboration between Lakeland Arts, the Centre for Fashion Curation based at University of the Arts London, and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.