Soulton Hall has acquired an early nineteenth-century lithograph portrait of Sir Francis Bacon, purchased from Sanders of Oxford on the High Street. The print is currently awaiting framing before taking its permanent place in the studiolo. The lithograph, produced by the celebrated firm Day and Haghe, “Lithographers to the Queen,” features a clear vignette bust portrait of Bacon wearing a traditional ruff and embroidered doublet. It bears the elegant inscription, “Lord Bacon, Author of the Advancement of Learning, A.D. 1605.”
Early nineteenth-century lithograph portrait of Sir Francis Bacon
This portrait was carefully selected for the collection due to the significant historical and design links connecting the Bacon family to the heritage of Soulton Hall.
Sir Rowland Hill, who passed away in 1561, was a towering figure of the Tudor era who successfully maintained his immense wealth and public influence across the turbulent reigns of multiple monarchs, including Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. During this dynamic period, the Bacon family operated within those exact same high-stakes legal, political, and intellectual circles in London.
Furthermore, the acquisition highlights striking architectural parallels between properties.
Verulam House
Francis Bacon’s now entirely lost Verulam House, completed around 1617 near St Albans, directly continues the architectural cryptography that was so central to the work and design style of Sir Rowland Hill. Built adjacent to his elaborate, geometric water gardens, Verulam House was a deeply symbolic, highly engineered structure that embedded coded meaning and philosophical principles directly into its physical layout. Both Verulam House and Soulton Hall share these distinct, deliberate Tudor-era Renaissance geometrical and humanistic design systems. Once framed and installed, this print will serve as a permanent visual marker of the shared intellectual, philosophical, and structural heritage preserved at Soulton.
