Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire in the north of England, has been home to the Devonshire family for generations, each stamping their own style on the property and extensive gardens. The result is an eclectic and opulent setting that is both stunning and slightly uncomfortable.
Whatever you are imagining, the house and gardens somehow surpass whatever opulence you might have in mind.
This makes Chatsworth the perfect location for the similarly eclectic and ostentatious The Gorgeous Nothings exhibition. A range of artists from a range of centuries have contributed to this floral extravaganza, and the works are incorporated into the tour of the house. It is not always clear what is part of the exhibition and what was already in place, but exploring the exhibits was thrilling.
Because of the variety, there are bound to be things to love, even if some of the pieces do nothing for you, and. It is spread over several floors, so there were few visitor bottlenecks to navigate.
Entry is pricy but gives you access to the house and gardens for the full day, and disabled access was mostly decent in the house (unless you need to sit down), tricky in the car park (including in the Blue Badge parking spaces), and mixed in the gardens due to gradients, metal lips on the lawns, and varied path surfaces.
I have picked out four of my stand-out exhibits, but do keep an eye on Global Comment’s social media in the next few days for a video highlighting more The Gorgeous Nothings exhibits that caught my eye.
Like Leaves by Simryn Gill
As you approach Like Leaves by Simryn Gill, it looks like the wall is adorned with tiles. The moment of realisation that these are leaves pinned to the wall is remarkable, and that moment of surprise was honestly a delight.
The leaves are from the sea hibiscus tree, also known as coast cottonwood or sea mallow. The squares were initially all cut the same size, but this precise order has now become slightly less perfect as the leaves have shrunk over time, “as if their nature defies containment and regularisation”.
Gill collected the leaves from trees in Sydney, where she lives.
The Agony in the Garden by Chris Ofili
One of the most thought-provoking exhibits in The Gorgeous Nothings was The Agony in the Garden by Chris Ofili. This collection of 11 intaglio prints portrays 11 views of the same scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
Every print represents the scene as viewed by a different disciple. The heads are in varied positions, always kissing, with a hint of eroticism that is unsettling given what the scenes are actually portraying.
Pink Butterfly / Bug Evening Gown by Alessandro Michele for Gucci
This extraordinary gown, designed for Duchess Amanda by Alessandro Michele for Gucci in 2017, was popular with visitors, and for good reason. The intricacy of the needlework is astonishing, and the way Michele incorporated natural themes into the design and flow of the gown is beautiful.
Herbarium by anonymous
It is not quite true that Virginia Woolf wrote “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman”, but it was a misquote that popped into my head at various points of the Chatsworth exhibition.
I knew that I enjoyed vintage botanical illustration, but one of the delights of my visit to The Gorgeous Nothings was just how exciting it was to see book after book after book, under glass, that each represented one person’s obsession with drawing, or collaging, or painting endless plants and flowers.
This example is a Herbarium whose creator used “hand-coloured, cut out prints to create a world where science and the imagination collide”. It is from the mid-1700s and belonged to Lady Anne Tree; so we know who owned it but not who brought it into existence.
The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth, named after an Emily Dickinson quote, is on at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire until 5th October 2025. See what else is happening at Chatsworth here. Make sure you’re following Global Comment on social media so you get the follow-up video that will accompany this review.
Images: Philippa Willitts