Now the hotel in Sloane Street, London, which is still going strong more than 100 years later, has lighted on what must be one of the most imaginative publicity stunts of modern times: a one-man art show celebrating the work of Lord Drumlanrig, great-nephew of Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde’s lover and, as a result of the Cadogan Hotel arrest, his nemesis.
The exhibition, which will form part of the Chelsea Festival, is entitled Luminous Miniatures and follows Sholto Drumlanrig’s recent successful exhibition in New York.
His paintings owe a considerable amount to the art of medieval illuminated manuscripts. The subjects are taken from nature and are a triumph of observation and the miniaturists’ art.
The London exhibition will run from June 15-26 and Michael Portillo, MP for Kensington & Chelsea, will open it. Sholto Drumlanrig, 35, is the eldest son of the 12th Marquess of Queensberry, previously Professor of Ceramics at the Royal College of Art.
Cadogan still Wilde at heart
“Mr Woilde, we ’ave come for tew take yew Where felons and criminals dwell: We must ask yew tew leave with us quoietly For this is the Cadogan Hotel.” These lines by John Betjeman form part of a poem that marks one of the most notorious incidents in late Victorian society – The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel.
