The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth

The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth (15 March – 5 October 2025) is a transhistorical exhibition that the organizers have described as a “gathering,” a careful act of bringing together objects that engage with flowers and plant life. Drawing inspiration from the Chatsworth estate, and displayed throughout the house and its gardens, the exhibition is comprised of works from the Devonshire Collections, external loans, and commissions by contemporary artists. From sculpture to painting, fashion to engravings, the exhibition celebrates botany as an inspirational force for artists, designers, gardeners, scientists and creators of all kinds.

The Katrin Bellinger Collection has loaned the 2021 drawing Personal Development (fig. 1) by Donna Huddleston, which is beautifully presented on an easel in the house. Huddleston’s ethereal caran d’ache and graphite drawing depicts a figure in front of Venetian blinds; a compositional frame separates the figure from a large pink flower. Although the work is not a straightforward self-portrait, the woman stands for the artist herself in a theatrical and performative way. The delicate color palette of yellow-greens, pinks, and blues is suggestive of botanical watercolors, and the textured flatness of the flower evokes pressed flowers—which are also displayed in the Chatsworth exhibition.

The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth is curated by Allegra Pesenti and designed by Pippa Nissen (Nissen Richards Studio).