Holkham Hall, an austere eighteenth-century sandstone mansion that is among the most spectacularly situated of England's stately homes, was built just south of the dune-edged beaches of Norfolk, in a park that extends for three thousand acres and encompasses woodland, rolling greensward, and an ornamental lake. Commissioned by a wealthy landowner named Thomas Coke, the house was designed according to strict Palladian principles, and consists of four symmetrical wings arranged around a central core, which contains a long gallery. In this space, Coke-who was ennobled as the Earl of Leicester in 1744, and whose name, like that of his descendants, is pronounced "cook"-displayed acquisitions from his Grand Tour, including a statue of Diana that had reputedly once belonged to Cicero.
This story is from the February 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the February 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of The New Yorker.
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STUNTED
\"The Fall Guy.\"
MOTHERS OF US ALL
Paula Vogel's \"Mother Play,\" Shaina Taub's \"Suffs,\" and Amy Herzog's \"Mary Jane.\"
PURE PLEASURE
The \"Radical Optimism\" of Dua Lipa.
PARADISE LOST
The search for a home that never was in Claire Messud's new novel.
ORIGIN STORY
What do we hope to learn from our prehistory?
DEATH IN VENICE
At the Biennale, the past dignifies the weird, desperate present.
WE'RE NOT SO DIFFERENT, YOU AND I
\"You'll never get away with this!\" Ultra Man vowed as he wriggled in his chains. \"You may destroy me, but you'll never destroy what I stand for!\"
STONES OF CONTENTION
The British Museum faces accusations of cultural theft-and actual theft.
A CAMPUS IN CRISIS
Dissent and defiance at Columbia's pro-Palestine protests.
ARROW RETRIEVER
I am an arrow retriever. After a batrows are costly and time-consuming to make. It seems like a terrible waste-and maybe even a sin―for an arrow to fall to the ground without hitting someone. Even if the arrow kills somebody, it can be reused to kill someone else. As Randolf the Scot famously said, \"Arrows don't grow on trees.\"
