2-888-680 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Royal Academy Exhibition - No. 221. - "Hospitality - The Mote, Ightham, Kent" - painted by J. C. Horsley, 1850. London exhibition of painting. 'The Mote at Ightham, in Kent, in front of which Mr. Horsley has laid the scene of his pleasing picture called "Hospitality," is too often neglected, both by the tourist and the antiquary. It lies the distance of a short and pleasant walk from Sevenoaks, and the Hall is very perfect, and of fourteenth-century work. Mr. Horsley's; explanatory motto: "Use hospitality one to another, without grudging", is excellently suited to the subject of his picture'. A young girl stands in an arched doorway, handing a plate of food to a traveller. Ightham Mote is one of the most complete small medieval manor houses in England. The engraving may have been used for one of the first Christmas cards. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.