My aim was to assess the connoisseurship and collecting habits of the first four Earls of Radnor and perhaps in the process recognise the provenance of our collectionsl at Lanhydrock. Looking predominantly at portraiture my two trips to London took me to the NPG Heinz archive, the V&A art library to look at auction records and the British Library to look through remnants of Radnor correspondence. My aim is to write this research up for future publication and incorporate some of the findings as house presentation in our ‘Bringing Properties to Life’ project. I will also use the information in a lecture entitled ”The Earls of Radnor as Connoisseurs (1679-1758)’ to be held at Lanhydrock on 25 November 2011. Furthermore, in putting these details together our Collections Management database will benefit from more detailed entries. I have wanted to do this research for some time now and the bursary has, at last, made it possible. The bursary programme worked extremely well and facilitated research which may not have been possible through the daily work pattern. I fully applaud the scheme and am grateful for the opportunity to participate. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pursue this line of research. It was an experience that I found very enriching both personally, academically and culturally.

paul.holden[at]nationaltrust.org.uk