HYLAND
James wrote to Charles Eliot Norton, "It's a complex fate, being
an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting
against a superstitious valuation of Europe." We can imagine
the hero of The Golden Bowl, American art collector Adam
Verver and his wife Charlotte, inhabiting Marwood, importing
sublime objects--and talents--to
embellish it. Such a talent is Mary
Douglas Drysdale.
Drysdale first encountered
Marwood in about 1990, not as
an accomplished designer, but
as a secret visitor, on horseback,
on a cross-country jaunt. On
that day, when she first saw this
French style chateau, it was with
surprise. Washington is known for
its Georgian, Federal and Greek
Revival houses; and having lived
and studied for years in France,
Drysdale connects with the
architecture of France.
Thirty years ago, Marwood was
shrouded by a great forest which
buffered it from the modern world that had taken root around
the property in the years since it was built. Reflecting on that
day, Drysdale recounts, "the path to this paradise was a long,
tree-lined drive, impressive, particularly on horseback, for its
