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Wheathills Ensure Safe Delivery from Sotheby’s to Outer Hebrides
Family-run firm, Wheathills recently made a very special journey from Sotheby's to the Isle of Harris to deliver a painting by Marc Chagall.
The Marc Chagall painting, named Le peintre à la fête, will be displayed at the beautiful Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, which stands at the edge of the Atlantic overlooking the island of Taransay.
Once it was agreed that the new home for the painting would be in the Grand Hall at Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, the owners didn’t hesitate to contact Wheathills to ensure that the artwork was carefully transported and then installed in its new position.
To enable the painting to be displayed for family and guests of the castle to enjoy, Wheathills was commissioned to craft a bespoke carriage to ensure it was hung correctly without damaging the painting, wallpaper or walls. Without hesitation, owner of Wheathills Nigel Heldreich, and two of his colleagues made the 1,300 mile journey from Derbyshire to Sotheby's in London to collect the precious painting and then on to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.
The Marc Chagall painting was to take centre stage, and while the expert team at Wheathills were in residence, they were also commissioned to relocate a Renoir painting – which also had a bespoke carriage created to install and protect the painting for guests to enjoy for many more years.
Both bespoke carriages were carefully measured and crafted using Honister stone posts that would be safely attached to the castle walls to display the paintings. They were then finished with Tru-Vue outer casing to protect the paintings from natural sunlight for guests to enjoy. Each painting took around eight hours to install.
Nigel and his team were honoured to be trusted with such an important piece of art: “Amhuinnsuidhe Castle is a beautiful place in a stunning location, and I have had the pleasure to visit on a number of occasions. Most recently Wheathills were commissioned to create a marquetry image of a Golden Eagle soaring over the castle to hang in the art gallery next to the Chagall and the Renoir.
“It was a great honour to be asked again by Amhuinnsuidhe Castle to be trusted with the unique paintings by Chagall and the Renoir. The biggest challenge for us was to make sure we safely transported the Chagall from Sotheby's to the Outer Hebrides, and we knew that the only way to do this was to collect the piece ourselves and make sure it was never out of our sight until it was safely on the walls of the castle.”
A spokesperson for Amhuinnsuidhe Castle commented how delighted they are with the installation: “We are incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity and the perfect setting to display a unique collection of fine-art, including the impressive Golden Eagle marquetry piece – a standard of work that only Nigel and his team could achieve.
“Transporting and installing the Chagall was no easy task, but I know that the standard of work from Wheathills is that of a team of ‘professional perfectionists’ and I have every confidence in Nigel’s skills and expertise to ensure that the installation would go smoothly, including the relocation of the Renoir. There isn’t anybody who can do it better than Nigel; he has the same ethos as me and is very sympathetic to both the building and the artwork."
“Nigel knows the standard of the building, including its challenges as a listed building, and with his passion for stately homes and restoration, I know of nobody better in terms of attention to detail."
“Amhuinnsuidhe Castle offers five-star luxury accommodation within exclusive surroundings in a remote and truly Celtic corner of Great Britain. We are really proud of the fine art collection we have started to build up and our guests have the pleasure of enjoying high quality fine art such as our Renoir, Rembrandt and now Chagall in the setting of a home rather than an art-gallery, which gives it that personal touch.
“Our guests enjoy the art collection which extends from the Grand Hall, where the Chagall, Renoir, Rembrandt and Wheathills pieces are displayed, right through the castle including each of the bedrooms.
“We are also very proud to be home to one of the world’s largest collections of Scotland’s most popular and celebrated landscape painters, William McTaggart (1835-1910), testament to the high-quality art that we have on display.
“The art collection is a fantastic addition and offers a wonderful experience for visitors and we are starting to establish a reputation for becoming a destination for high quality fine-art with our notable collection of paintings.”
Wheathills is famed for creating unique pieces of furniture and personalised memory boxes, restoration of period furniture and conservation of historic buildings and monuments.
