Paris Then and Now

From Saturday 10th August until Wednesday 4th September, the Museum’s latest topical display will be on show on the ‘Conversation

16 Aug 2024

A Building of Love

In the mid 19th century John Bowes was a dapper gentleman in France with considerable wealth, owning a prime location

25 May 2022

Mice in a museum?

The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle has many unusual items that are not found in other museums in Britain, let

18 Jun 2021

The Three Graces

John Bowes may have been the businessman who purchased the land and financed the creation of The Bowes Museum but

8 Mar 2021

The mirror that John and Joséphine Missed.

When walking through the galleries you may have noticed a spectacular mirror. It was modelled by the great sculptor Carrier­ Belleuse, master of the now more famous Auguste Rodin, and cast in the foundry of Auguste Barbedienne. Regarded as one of greatest achievements of Carrier-Belleuse, the bevelled mirror glass is set in an elaborate gilt-bronze and silvered frame comprising scrolling cartouches and cast foliate decoration with satyrs’ heads at the sides, draped nymphs at the top and corners and a lion’s mask at the base. The mirror is inscribed ANNO 1867 and is signed Barbedienne. First displayed at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 it was purchased by William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, for display at Witley Court in Worcestershire or his London home, Dudley House on Park Lane. William Ward was not the only prospective buyer at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. He may well have rubbed shoulders with John and Joséphine Bowes. Indeed it was there that they first saw the famous Silver Swan, which they would later acquire. Following Dudley’s purchase, the mirror then disappeared until 1991 when it came up at auction in England. It was bought by an international museum, but was considered to be of such importance that the export licence was stopped to give a British museum time to raise the funds to buy it and save it

9 Oct 2020

Exciting times 150 years ago…

Wrapped up against the Teesdale autumn weather, a delicate French woman holds an ornate ivory handled silver trowel and moves

27 Nov 2019

Joséphine: The Woman of Fashion

The Bowes Museum continues its 125th anniversary celebrations with a new display focusing on Joséphine Bowes’ interest in fashion. This

24 Aug 2017

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