 The hall 's flight of steps lead to the piano nobile and state rooms . The grandest , the Saloon , is situated immediately behind the great portico , with its walls lined with patterned red caffoy ( a mixture of wool , linen and silk ) and a coffered , gilded ceiling . In this room hangs Rubens 's Return from Egypt . On his Grand Tour , the Earl acquired a collection of Roman copies of Greek and Roman sculpture which is contained in the extensive Statue Gallery , which runs the full length of the house north to south . The North Dining Room , a cube room of 27 feet ( 8 @.@ 2 m ) contains an Axminster carpet that perfectly mirrors the pattern of the ceiling above . A bust of Aelius Verus , set in a niche in the wall of this room , was found during the restoration at Nettuno . A classical apse gives the room an almost temple air . The apse in fact , contains concealed access to the labyrinth of corridors and narrow stairs that lead to the distant kitchens and service areas of the house . Each corner of the east side of the principal block contains a square salon lit by a huge Venetian window , one of them — the Landscape Room — hung with paintings by Claude Lorrain and Gaspar Poussin . All of the major state rooms have symmetrical walls , even where this involves matching real with false doors . The major rooms also have elaborate white and multi @-@ coloured marble fireplaces , most with carvings and sculpture , mainly the work of Thomas Carter , though Joseph Pickford carved the fireplace in the Statue Gallery . Much of the furniture in the state rooms was also designed by William Kent , in a stately classicising baroque manner . 
