Ventnor Local History Society talk by Dr. Linda Bek. We all know the infamous trial of Sir Richard and Lady Seymour Worsley and her numerous lovers. So perhaps we can surmise that Seymour was not the love of his life. In fact Sir Richard’s consuming passion had always been his vast collection of art and antiquities.

He was first and foremost a connoisseur, his wife a financially useful and attractive addition for an ambitious aristocrat. Appuldurcombe House housed one of the most important collections in the country containing significant treasures with paintings by Leonardo, Michelangelo and bits of the Parthenon hacked off on one of his numerous expeditions.

How he acquired this vast collection and where it ended up is an intriguing story, some of the answers perhaps we will never know.

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