{"product_id":"clouds-biography-of-a-country-house-9780300057768","title":"Clouds: Biography of a Country House","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlmost before it was completed in 1886  Clouds was being described as the house of the age. Designed by Philip Webb  one of Britains greatest architects  this country house in Wiltshire was commissioned by Percy and Madeline Wyndham  an aristocratic couple with a sophisticated taste in design. In this handsomely illustrated book Caroline Dakers tells the story of Clouds: its planning and creation; the art commissioned to adorn its walls; the activities and interests of the three generations of Wyndhams who lived in it; the famous people who visited it; the sale of the house in the 1930s; and its eventual transformation into a charitable institution. Dakers vividly recreates the lives and personalities of Clouds colourful owners. Percy and Madeline Wyndham were at the heart of late Victorian cultural life  and their guests were talented writers and artists such as Henry James  Rudyard Kipling  William Morris  Edward Burne-Jones  John Singer Sargent  Leighton  Whistler  and Watts. The Wyndhams eldest son George  Secretary of State for Ireland and tipped as a future prime minister  died tragically early at the age of 49. For his nephew  Dick  the last Wyndham to own Clouds  economic forces had turned the palace of art into a vast white elephant. The unique collection of art treasures was divided and sold  the estate broken up  and the house dynamited to a more convenient size. The book not only shows the significance of Clouds within the history of architecture  art  and design  but also uses the house to trace the changing relation between patrons and artists and the decline of the political and economic power of the landed class. A tale of achievement and tragedy  the story of Clouds chronicles an era of moneyed taste and leisure probably unparalleled this century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45789786472501,"sku":"ByrdShop_0300057768","price":25.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780300057768.jpg?v=1784698526","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/clouds-biography-of-a-country-house-9780300057768","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}