Conserved paintings on display at Cannon Hall Museum

Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust are always glad to help with conservation of items from the Barnsley Museums collection, and the latest items are three paintings from the Cannon Hall collection which have been cleaned and conserved by Critchlow and Kukkonen Ltd. 

 Two of the paintings are by the local, Victorian artist Abel Hold (1815-1896). One shows a moonlit landscape with a lake in the foreground and a folly on a hill and is unusual for Hold as few moonlit scenes by him are known. The other is an oil sketch of George Wickfield who was the gamekeeper on the Cannon Hall estate before becoming the first landlord of the Stanhope Arms at Dunford Bridge. Both paintings were gifted by an anonymous donor and are currently on display in the Oak Room at Cannon Hall Museum.  

The third painting is a portrait of Margaret Elizabeth Spencer Stanhope by her aunt, Winifred Spencer Stanhope. Miss Betty, as she was known, is shown in the portrait as a young child aged about three or four. The portrait was donated by James Fraser, grandson of Miss Betty, and will be on show at Experience Barnsley next year as part of a new exhibition on the theme of childhood.