|
William Wilkins designed the two-storey
Entrance Hall with a decorative hammer-beam ceiling similar
to the one he later created for the Hall at King's College,
Cambridge. The paintings include several family portraits,
such as: Sir
Archibald Primrose,
who bought the Dalmeny and Barnbougle estates in 1662; a particularly
fine portrait by Millais of the 5th
Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929), who succeeded W.E. Gladstone
as Prime Minister in 1894; Hannah
Rothschild, wife of the 5th Earl, from whose family home,
Mentmore Towers, came much of the collection of 18th-century
French furniture and porcelain now housed at Dalmeny; and
the present Earl of Rosebery with his family. The marble bust
of Gladstone was made during the Midlothian election campaign
of 1879 which returned him to power; the sculptor Boehm sat
opposite Gladstone, one modelling while the other wrote his
speeches.
|
