Construction Sites: The Architecture of Anne Clifford's Diaries

‘In the keeping of Paulina’

“…56 Clifford finally took possession of the estates in 1643, and although she was not able to visit her lands until 1649, she set about 'an elaborate plan to prove she had been wronged forty years earlier'. 57 For example, Clifford pursued old-fashioned, gothic schemes in her architectural projects in order to create the impression that her buildings were an established part of the landscape. 58 A similar architectural inscribing of the past onto Clifford's lands was achieved in the monument to her mother that Clifford built in 1656, known as 'The Countess Pillar'.…”

“…While the statue appears 'masterly done', Paulina warns that it is 'but newly fixed; the colour's / Not dry' (5.3. [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. In suggesting that the final coat of paint has been applied to the statue, but that this paint has not yet settled, Paulina presents the artwork as still in the process of reaching finish, and therefore susceptible to defacement.…”