Harewood House

General History

The ground that Harewood House was built on was bought by Henry Lascelles in 1738, using money from the West Indian sugar trade. The money came from owning plantations, slaves, ships and warehouses, a fact that was pervasive throughout British society at the time, with many of the great institutions; the Church, banks, artistic and educational establishments – either created or greatly enhanced during that period.

Henry was involved in every aspect of the sugar trade, which might now be called vertical integration and however abhorrent the nature of his business, he was a very astute businessman, who became one of the richest men in England. His eldest son Edwin was born in Barbados in 1712 and received a classical education that Henry had not had. In 1738 they acquired the estates of Harewood and Gawthorpe, where Edwin would later build Harewood House. Henry, though, did not live to see it. He killed himself in 1753 and whilst Harewood House is full of portraits, including one of Henry’s brother Edward, who was the junior partner of their business enterprises, there is no image of Henry.

Art & Collections at Harewood House
Harewood House is home to an astounding collection of paintings, furniture and ceramics. Harewood has enjoyed a very special relationship with contemporary artists and craftspeople throughout its history.

Today Harewood is home to an astounding collection of paintings by masters of the Italian Renaissance, family portraits by Reynolds, Hoppner and Lawrence, and modern art collected by the current Earl and Countess. Edward ‘Beau’ Lascelles was a patron of JMW Turner, who came here as a young artist aged just 22 to paint the new house and its landscape. The family portraits were painted by the fashionable artists of the day and in the early 20th century the 6th Earl collected a number of Renaissance paintings.