The Castle Howard website features a fully and handsomely illustrated exhibition of photos from the two film adaptations of Brideshead Revisited and other related sources. This illustrates in part how the two adaptations are similar in some respects and how they differ in others. It also shows how two different illustrators made renderings of Brideshead Castle which look remarkably like Castle Howard even though they were drawn many years before either film was made. They were merely putting on paper the structures that Waugh had put into words. Photos from other settings such as Oxford, Madresfield Court and Venice are also shown in the context of their appearances in the novel and films. Another very interesting exhibit shows how and explains why the two adaptations used different approach roads to the house for their exteriors.
The exhibition’s introduction explains:
Castle Howard has a very special association with the story since it was used as location for Brideshead in the celebrated Granada Television series of 1981, and the Miramax movie version in 2008. For many people Castle Howard simply is Brideshead; it is a place where fact and fiction mingle.
Due to Coronavirus restrictions the house is currently closed, and the exhibition has now been posted online. We hope you will enjoy the story of Brideshead and Castle Howard, and we look forward to welcoming you back to the house at some point in the future.
The Brideshead anniversary festival for June 2020 has been cancelled and we are currently exploring if it is possible to re-schedule the event.
