The Beverley Gem Collection at Alnwick Castle is one of the most distinguished in Great Britain
still in private hands.Alnwick Castle ancestral seat of the Earls of Northumberland - and the
House of Percy - was built as a border fortress against the Scots in the twelfth century if
not earlier. Substantially enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and remaining in
Percy family hands to this day it stands now as a prime example of robust stone defensive
architecture. Much visited and admired for its impressive exterior this dramatic stronghold
and stately home is the setting for this collection.The Beverley Collection reflects the
longstanding interest of the English nobility in both accumulating and commissioning gemstones.
The Collection was begun by the First Duchess of Northumberland in the early eighteenth century
but the greater part of it was made later in the century by Algernon Percy First Earl of
Beverley during a tour of Europe while in the company of his mentor Louis Dutens. Their
success in France and Italy was such that it incited the jealousy of the Empress Catherine of
Russia herself a passionate collector.The range of objects - cameos intaglios and finger
rings of the highest quality - is considerable: Greek Roman and Etruscan as well as a notable
assemblage of neoclassical signed gems by British artists. One jewel clearly provided
inspiration for Michelangelo's painting of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Collection
has been little known except by connoisseurs but this volume brings to the attention of a
broader audience many of the finest products of one of the oldest arts of the western world.
