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The Hermitage
is a house museum with an art collection to be savored. The dark-visaged
witches supporting the ceiling, satyrs over the library door, drunken
winemakers on the ivory netsuke, multiple secret panels and a thundering
organ all combine to delight the visitor who takes the time to look and
listen to the tales of the guides who bring this astounding collection to
life.
It's hard to imagine a better
setting than the Sloanes' English Tudor house. Although it began as a
five-room summer cottage for textile manufacturer William Sloane, it was
expanded into a 42-room mansion. Three master carvers worked 22 years on
its elaborate paneling, mantles, beams and custom-designed furniture.
The mood is firmly and loudly
established when the guide inserts a roll in the 1935 Moller organ and music
on a grand scale fills the air. It's the perfect accompaniment to the Old
World Gothic drawing room. Separating the organ from the drawing room is a
rood screen, used in churches to divide the choir from the congregation.
Unlike many museums, the Hermitage allows photography, which is fortunate
because the details of this ornately carved wooden screen are well worth
capturing. The drawing room is filled with art from around the world: a
16th-century Flemish tapestry, 16th- and 17th-century Spanish religious art
and one of two massive limestone fireplaces from Bath, England.
The Sloanes amassed one of
the largest privately owned oriental art collection on the East Coast
including a linden wood statue of Kuan Yin, goddess of mercy, which is more
than 1,000 years old. Other rarities are the T’ang Dynasty clay carved
horses which were buried with the deceased to help carry their possessions
into the next world and a 6th-century Chinese marble Buddha.
The dining room faces the Lafayette River,
but it did not always do so. To change the view the Sloanes hired a
contractor who had a crane lift and move two rooms, exchanging the location
of the dining room with that of the parlor.
This house, like most Tudor
mansions, has a great hall. It is here that four witches support the
ceiling to ward off evil spirits. Two Tiffany lamps provide muted light.
The carpet has the five-toed dragon design, symbol of the Chinese Imperial
family. If you want to learn how 15th-century Spanish merchants smuggled,
have a look at one of their intricately carved sample boxes (vagueno)
displayed here.
In the morning room, perhaps
the most intriguing items of all are displayed: the lily shoes worn by women
to keep their feet from growing. Some feet were bound to lengths of no more
than five inches. The upstairs has additional exhibits not to be missed,
including Faberge creations.
The Hermitage Foundation
Museum is open daily from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. On Sunday it opens at
1:00 P.M. It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
Admission is charged, but those under six and U.S.
military service personnel are admitted free.
Directions:
From I-95 in the Richmond area, take I-64 east to Route 165 and turn right
on Little Creek Road. At the intersection of Little Creek Road and Hampton
Boulevard (Route 337), turn left onto Hampton Boulevard. Continue to North
Shore Road and turn right. The Hermitage Foundation Museum is one-half mile
on the left. Norfolk Tour signs indicate the route.
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