CATALOGUEThe numbering of the Drawings and Pictures begins on the Entrance Door, and is continued to the left.The measurements are in inches (the width preceding the height) and do not include the frame or mount.The Furniture, etc., is described after the Pictures.The Committee accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the attributions in the Catalogue.1OLD LONDON BRIDGE.Plate I.Watercolour. 17 by 10 in.The bridge shortly before its removal. From a point on the Surrey side of the river, nearly opposite to old Fishmongers’ Hall.G. Yates, watercolour painter, worked in London on topographical subjects about 1825-37; in the Crace catalogue he is called Major Yates.ByG. Yates, 1826.Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.2AUSTIN FRIARS CHURCH FROM THE NORTH-WEST.Watercolour. 7¾ by 7½ in.The priory of the Augustine Friars in London was foundeda.d.1253, and the church was rebuilt about a century afterwards. In 1550 the nave was made over to the Dutch community in London, and it has been in their hands ever since. The choir and steeple were destroyed by the then Marquess of Winchester at the beginning ofthe seventeenth century. In 1862 what remained of the church was very much injured by fire, the roof and all the fittings being burnt. It was “restored” at a cost of about £12,000.The interest of this drawing is due to the fact that it shows the church, with its decorated tracery and staircase turret, before the disastrous fire.Lent by Sir E. Coates.3BOLINGBROKE HOUSE, BATTERSEA.Plate II.Watercolour. 7 by 4¾ in.The St. John family became Lords of the Manor of Battersea in the early part of the seventeenth century. Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke, retired to the manor-house when nearing the end of his career, and died there in 1751. In 1763 the manor was sold to Lord Spencer, and much of the house is said to have been pulled down not long afterwards. The remainder was enclosed in ground attached to a mill built about 1794, and it stands in the premises of the existing flour mill near the parish church, but is now dilapidated.This old drawing represents the house much as it was a few years ago. It contained a panelled room, a good staircase, and remains of a seventeenth-century plaster ceiling still there in 1920.Lent by Mr. P. Norman.4OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.Plate III.Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 9 in.View of the bridge and of Westminster from mid-stream. The western towers of Westminster Abbey, as shown, were completed in 1739. Among prominent buildings are Westminster Hall, St. Stephen’s Chapel, and the Church of St. John the Evangelist with its four queer towers finished in 1728. In the distance is Lambeth Palace. Old Westminster Bridge, designed by the Swiss architect C. Labelye, was begun in 1738-9 and opened 18 November 1750.Antonio Canale, the Venetian painter, usually called Canaletto, visited England in 1746, and remained about two years. During that time he produced many pictures and drawings, chiefly of London scenes. An inscription on the back of a picture of the Rotunda at Ranelagh (Nat. Gal. Cat. 1906, No. 1429) has been thought to prove that he was here in 1754.ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.5VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 7¾ in.ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.6VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM WESTMINSTER.Plate IV.Pen drawing. 15½ by 5¼ in.Rare example of Hollar’s pen-work, unfinished. The point of view is about that of the “King’s Bridge,” Westminster. In the distance old St. Paul’s is faintly pencilled. Signature on a plank to the left.Wenceslaus Hollar, born at Prague, was brought to England by the Earl of Arundel in 1637, and worked under his patronage for years. In the Civil War he served under the Marquess of Winchester, and was taken prisoner at Basing House, but escaped to Antwerp. He afterwards returned, was appointed designer to the King, and spent the rest of his life here with an interval when he was sent by Charles II to Tangiers. A most industrious artist, we owe to him many fine etchings of London; died in poverty.ByW. Hollar(1607-1677).Lent by H.M. the King.7VIEW UP RIVER FROM GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.Pen and wash. 19 by 8½ in.Westminster Abbey, Bridge, and Hall are conspicuous, so is the Banqueting House, Whitehall.ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.8WESTMINSTER BRIDGE AND ABBEY.Plate V.Pen and wash. 19 by 10½ in.View from Surrey side; afêteof some kind is in progress; the river crowded with sailing boats and barges and wherries all proceeding up stream. The chief Westminster buildings are delineated.ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.9WESTMINSTER ABBEY, SOUTH VIEW FROM RIVER.Plate VI.Pen and watercolour. 5¼ by 3 in.A choice drawing delicately tinted, shows Henry VIIth’s Chapel and the Chapter-house. The tower to the left of the latter must be the King’s Jewel-house. The narrow strip to extreme left, intended perhaps to represent part of a turret of Lambeth Palace, is a later addition joined on.ByW. Hollar(1607-1677).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.10VIEW FROM AN ARCHWAY OF WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 11½ in.Looking down stream, shows the riverside from York Water-tower to St. Paul’s.ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.11VIEW UP RIVER TO WESTMINSTER.Plate VII.Wash and pen drawing. 28¼ by 15¼ in.On spectator’s right the first important object is York Water-gate still standing at the end of Buckingham Street, Strand, probably designed by Inigo Jones in 1626, and executed by Nicholas Stone. (The design is claimed for the latter in his Account Book.) Behind it is the house where Samuel Pepys lived with Hewer. No. 14 Buckingham Street is on the site. Next is York Water-tower, a slender wooden building about seventy feet high, part of the waterworks established 27 Charles II to supply the West End with Thames water. They were burnt down and re-erected in 1690. Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall are prominent. Westminster Bridge is unfinished. Lambeth Palace appears in the distance to spectator’s left. A drawing apparently copied from this is in the print room of the British Museum.ByCanaletto,c.1746 (1697-1768).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.12OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.Plate VIII.Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 11½ in.This view appears to be taken from the Westminster side. According to Labelye’s “Description,” published in 1751, the bridge wasalmost finished in the spring of 1747, but soon afterwards a pier settled badly. The two adjoining arches were thus wrecked and had to be supported by wooden framework, the spandrels, balustrades, etc., being removed. The effects of this accident are here shown; they delayed the opening for years.ByCanaletto, 1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.13LAMBETH PALACE GATE-HOUSE, AND PARISH CHURCH.Watercolour. 7¼ by 5¼ in.The Palace cannot be seen; in the distance is Westminster Bridge.The Gate-house, of red brick, with stone archway and quoins, was built in the time of Archbishop Morton who died in 1500. The fifteenth-century church of St. Mary, Lambeth, after being often altered and repaired, was almost entirely rebuilt in 1850-52.John Varley, born in 1778, exhibited at the Royal Academy and in 1804 became a foundation member of the Old Watercolour Society. Many of his earlier subjects are taken from the banks of the Thames.ByJ. Varley(1778-1842).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.14PIAZZA, COVENT GARDEN.Plate IX.Watercolour. 12 by 10¾ in.A piece of the Piazza designed by Inigo Jones is here shown.The letters “PS” are stamped on the lower left-hand corner of the drawing, a proof that it was in the collection of Paul Sandby, but according to the pencil note beneath it was by Thomas Sandby. Each brother drew subjects of this character. They were accomplished artists, and foundation members of the Royal Academy. Thomas was the first R.A. Professor of Architecture. Paul is believed to have been the first in this country who practised the art of aquatint.ByT. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798).Lent by H.M. the King.15CHURCH OF ST. DUNSTAN-IN-THE-EAST DURING RECONSTRUCTION.Pen and wash drawing. 16½ by 17½ in.After the Great Fire Wren rebuilt the church in his usual style excepting the tower, which is a bold attempt at Gothic with a spireon four flying buttresses. In 1817, the body of the church having become dilapidated, it was resolved to take it down and rebuild it to match the tower. The first stone of the new structure was laid on 26 November of that year. If the date under this drawing be correct, the work must have proceeded slowly. The roof is off, but Wren’s renaissance arches still remain.Date 1819.Lent by Sir E. Coates.16OLD SOMERSET HOUSE AND GARDEN.Plate X.Watercolour. 29½ by 20¼ in.Old Somerset House was built by the Protector, brother of Jane Seymour and maternal uncle of Edward VI, being begun soon after the death of Henry VIII. During a portion of Mary’s reign it was assigned to her sister Elizabeth. James I granted it to his Queen, Anne of Denmark. Charles handed it over to his Queen, Henrietta Maria, and caused a chapel for Roman Catholics to be added to the building. This was designed by Inigo Jones and consecrated in 1635, and he did other work there. A picture at Dulwich, engraved for Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata,” shows it before his chapel and alterations destroyed the uniform character of the building. It can hardly be from nature, as the artist was Cornelis Bol, who also portrayed the Great Fire. The present view must have been painted shortly before its demolition in 1775. An arcaded portion designed by Inigo Jones, stands out prominently.ByT. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798).Lent by H.M. the King.17OLD MANSION IN LEADENHALL STREET.Watercolour. 12½ by 18 in.To spectator’s right, above nearer buildings, is the spire of St. Peter’s Cornhill, and behind it the tower of St. Michael’s, Cornhill.If, as noted in pencil, this rather ornate structure was pulled down “for the East India House,” it must have been after the rebuilding of the latter from Jupp’s design, for it is shown in the large watercolour by T. Malton (No. 77) as immediately west of that building.About 1800Lent by Sir E. Coates.18WESTMINSTER FROM THE GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.Watercolour. 14¼ by 10½ in.This drawing, likeNo. 14, is stamped with the initials “PS.” It was therefore in the collection of Paul Sandby, and below it, on mount, is the following inscription (not contemporary), “Drawn by T Sandby 1752.”ByT. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798).Lent by H.M. the King.19OLD LONDON BRIDGE FROM BILLINGSGATE.Plate XI.Watercolour. 21¼ by 12½ in.Shows, on the Surrey side of the river, St. Olave’s Church, Tooley Street, lately closed, a neighbouring shot tower destroyed in a fire of 1843, and St. Saviour’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral.ByG. Yates, 1828.Lent by Sir E. Coates.20OLD LONDON BRIDGE FROM THE WEST.Watercolour. 22 by 12½ in.The bridge as altered when the houses on it were pulled down soon after the middle of the eighteenth century. The wide arch was then formed by the removal of a pier, two arches being thrown into one, which nearly caused the collapse of the fabric. An archaic steamer has a greyhound painted on its paddle-box.ByG. Yates, 1830.Lent by Sir E. Coates.21BARN ELMS, 1793.Watercolour. 12 by 9½ in.Scene by the river near Barnes. In the distance are the towers of Fulham Church and of Putney Church at each end of old Putney Bridge.Barn Elms, east of what was the village of Barnes and extending to the river, doubtless derived its second name from the trees that abounded there. The mansion called Barn Elms, which is the chief building and has considerable grounds attached to it, is now occupied by the Ranelagh Club, which moved there from Ranelagh House, Fulham (not to be confused with Ranelagh, Chelsea), in 1884. AtBarn Elms, Jacob Tonson, the famous publisher, secretary of the Kitcat Club, built a gallery for the reception of portraits of the members.The painting, signed “EE,” is by Edward Edwards, elected A.R.A. in 1771, and made Professor of Perspective in 1788.ByE. Edwards, A.R.A. (1738-1806).Lent by Sir H. Wilson.22THE MONUMENT FROM FISH STREET HILL.Watercolour on etched outline. 9 by 12 in.The Monument, designed by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London, was finished in 1677. Beyond it is shown the steeple of the church of St. Magnus, also designed by Wren; beyond that again, part of the roadway of old London Bridge. After the removal of the houses on the bridge, its east path was continued along a passage then formed through the church tower. Fish Street Hill is a continuation of Gracechurch Street to the south, and was the main thoroughfare to old London Bridge.The painting is unsigned and undated: it belongs perhaps to the beginning of the nineteenth century.Lent by Sir E. Coates.23CAMP NEAR SERPENTINE, HYDE PARK, 1780.Plate XII.Watercolour. 19 by 10 in.Tents near the water. In the foreground a group of figures. To the left a dog is harnessed to a barrow, a man pushing behind.Paul Sandby published “Views in the Encampments in the Parks,” 1780, for which series this was probably done.ByP. Sandby, R.A., 1780 (1725-1809).Lent by H.M. the King.24OPERA HOUSE, HAYMARKET.Watercolour. 10½ by 7¾ in.The first theatre on this site (designed by Sir John Vanbrugh) was opened in 1705 and burnt down in 1789. The second building, which is here represented, was begun in 1790, and was enlarged by J. Nash and G. S. Repton in 1816-8.R. B. Schnebbelie, whose father also practised art, and whosegrandfather, a native of Zurich, had been in the Dutch navy, was employed as a draughtsman for many years beginning about 1803, and did much good work for Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata”; this is the original of an engraving in that publication. He died about 1849.ByR. B. Schnebbelie, 1819.Lent by H.M. the King.25KING STREET GATE-HOUSE.Watercolour. 8¼ by 13 in.The original of an engraving which is in the first volume of “Vetusta Monumenta,” published by the Society of Antiquaries, the latter having on it the date 1725. This building stood at the north end of King Street and north-east corner of Downing Street, some little distance south of the so-called Holbein or Whitehall Gate-house, and although less ornate was of some beauty and importance, as may here be seen. It also dated from the time of Henry VIII, and was demolished in 1723 to improve the approaches to Westminster.George Vertue was in 1717 appointed engraver to the Society of Antiquaries, and did many excellent engravings for them; he also, as we see, practised in watercolour, and his literary works are of value. He collected a mass of memoranda relating to former artists, and this collection, now in the British Museum, having been bought after his death by Horace Walpole, formed the basis of the latter’s “Anecdotes of Painting in England.” Vertue lived and died a strict Roman Catholic.ByG. Vertue, 1723 (1684-1756).Lent by H.M. the King.26THE OLD PLAYHOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.Watercolour. 8½ by 7½ in.A brick building, with stone dressings and a tiled roof. It was on the site of a former theatre and dated from 1714. Here “The Beggar’s Opera” was produced, and ran for sixty nights. After various vicissitudes it became a store-place for Messrs. Copeland and Spode’s china, and was finally demolished for the enlargement of the Museum of the College of Surgeons.Lent by H.M. the King.27CUPER’S GARDENS, LAMBETH, FROM THE RIVER.Watercolour. 15½ by 6¾ in.These gardens, over against Somerset House in the Strand, were named after Boydell Cuper, gardener to Thomas, Earl of Arundel, who, when Arundel House was taken down, moved some of the mutilated marbles there, and opened them as a place of popular amusement. It continued to be thus used, and was famous for its fireworks. Degenerating in character, it was suppressed about the year 1753. On the site Messrs. Beaufoy established their works; they moved to South Lambeth when Waterloo Bridge (which runs over part of the gardens) was erected. The watercolour hardly looks as if it were earlier than the date of the closing of the gardens. Perhaps there was no great change in the entrance for some years.Lent by Sir E. Coates.28THE NURSERY, GOLDEN LANE.Watercolour. 6¼ by 8¼ in.Wrongly named the Fortune Play House, Golden Lane. The latter, originally built for Henslowe and Alleyn according to contract, “the frame to be sett square,” was destroyed by fire in 1621, and was replaced by a fabric of circular plan soon afterwards. In 1661 its site was advertised to be let for building.The “Nursery,” here depicted, was a school for the education of children for the stage, having been erected as the result of a patent granted by Charles II to one of the Legge family. It was drawn by J. T. Smith, who called it the Queen’s Nursery. The present watercolour was the original of an engraving in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.”George Shepherd devoted himself to topographical work. There are many watercolours of old London buildings by him in the Coates and Crace collections and elsewhere, executed from about 1792 to 1830 (his name being thus spelt), and they are good records.ByG. Shepherd, 1811.Lent by H.M. the King.29ST. PAUL’S FROM AN ARCH OF BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.Watercolour. 6¾ by 8¼ in.ByT. Maltonthe Younger (1748-1804).Lent by Mr. A. A. Allen.30aREMAINS OF WINCHESTER HOUSE, AUSTIN FRIARS, FROM GREAT WINCHESTER STREET.Watercolour. 8½ by 7 in.After the Dissolution the precinct of Austin Friars, except the nave of the church, came into the hands of William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester, who there made a residence for himself. A portion of it remained until 1844, and is here shown; the heavy portico is evidently a later addition. During recent excavations masonry was found which must have belonged to this building.ByG. Shepherd, 1811.Lent by Sir E. Coates.30bBACK OF WINCHESTER HOUSE, AUSTIN FRIARS.Watercolour. 7¼ by 4¾ in.Samuel Ireland, who painted this, was originally a mechanic of Spitalfields. He took to art, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782, and brought out various illustrated books. The last was “Picturesque Views of the Inns of Court,” published in 1800, the year in which he died. His son achieved notoriety as forger of Shakespeare manuscripts.ByS. Ireland.Lent by Sir E. Coates.31INTERIOR OF SECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE.Plate XIII.Watercolour. 21½ by 16 in.The first Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, being opened by Queen Elizabeth 23 January 1570-71. It was destroyed in the Great Fire.The second Exchange, designed by Edward Jarman or Jerman, City surveyor, and begun 1667, was, like the earlier one, a quadrangular building, with a clock tower on the chief front facing Cornhill. Business was transacted in the covered walk or cloister within. The statue of Charles II in the centre was by Grinling Gibbons.This view was drawn from the north-west corner of the walk; the pinnacles of St. Michael’s church tower, Cornhill, appear above the building.Unsigned. Date probably about 1810.Lent by Sir E. Coates.32VIEW FROM A HOUSE IN PALL MALL.Watercolour. 11¼ by 14¾ in.This view is signed and dated 1824, and forms a fitting companion toNo. 34, which is of the same style. The artist, William Hunt, born in 1790, had a great reputation in his day as a painter of fruit, flowers, birds’ nests, and other subjects of the kind, and also of rustic figures. His landscape is less known, and the works by him here exhibited are executed with unusual freedom. In these examples much of the outline is drawn with a pen.The artist in this case must have been sitting on the balustraded projection of a building, long ago destroyed, on the north side of Pall Mall. He looked east, and the steeple of the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields appears in the distance.ByW. Hunt, 1824 (1790-1864).Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.33CHURCH OF ST. PETER LE POOR, OLD BROAD STREET.Plate XIV.Watercolour. 13½ by 17½ in.This is the old church of St. Peter Le Poor on the west side of Old Broad Street, which in Stow’s opinion may have been so called because it was “sometime peradventure a poor parish.” It escaped the Great Fire, but traffic increasing, as it needed repair and projected into the street, it was pulled down in 1788 and rebuilt farther back. The second church, an indifferent piece of architecture, has been destroyed under the Union of Benefices Act within the last few years.Lent by Sir E. Coates.34VIEW FROM THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. MARTIN’S-IN-THE-FIELDS.Plate XV.Watercolour. 13¼ by 19½ in.In “Notes on Prout and Hunt” by Ruskin for an exhibition in 1879-80, he says: “Hunt learned his business not in spots but in lines. Compare the sketch of the river-side, No. 124, which is as powerful in lines as Rembrandt, and the St. Martin’s Church, No. 123, which is like a bit of Hogarth.” The view is along the colonnaded west front of the church, and up St. Martin’s Lane, of which the part here shown no longer exists. The bit of churchyard with tombstones disappeared on the formation of Duncannon Street.ByW. Hunt(1790-1864).Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.35ENCAMPMENT IN THE GROUNDS OF MONTAGUE HOUSE.Plate XVI.Watercolour. 26½ by 19½ in.The first Montague House, Bloomsbury, was destroyed by fire 19 January 1685-6, and the second, here shown, was designed soon afterwards by a Frenchman, Pierre Puget, or Poughet. The encampment is on the open space at the back of the mansion. The West Yorkshire Regiment is represented marching past Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Bangor, afterwards Bishop of Canterbury. Montague House had been bought for the British Museum under an Act passed in 1753. Additions were gradually made, but it was not until 1845 that the old building was entirely demolished.S. H. Grimm, who painted this watercolour, which is signed and dated, was born at Burgdorf, Switzerland, and settled in London about 1778. He sometimes exhibited at the Royal Academy, and was employed by the Society of Antiquaries, his work being chiefly topographical.ByS. H. Grimm, 1780 (1734-1794).Lent by H.M. the King.36aVIEW NEAR THE TURNPIKE AT NEW CROSS.Watercolour, outlined with a pen. 12½ by 9½ in.The scene is a rural one, with what appear to be an oast-house and other farm buildings in the foreground. The hill is called in Rocque’s map showing the Environs of London (1745) Plow’d Garlick Hill, afterwards Telegraph Hill. On it stands Aske’s School, belonging to the Haberdashers’ Company. Much of the rest remained open until a few years ago; now only a recreation ground has been saved from the builder. This hill is immediately south of the Turnpike site, now called New Cross Gate. New Cross was an outlying district of the parish of Deptford. Evelyn, in his “Diary,” 10 November 1675, mentions going in his coach from Sayes Court to “New Cross” to accompany Lord Berkeley to Dover.Lent by Sir E. Coates.36bNEW CROSS TURNPIKE ON THE KENT ROAD.Mezzotint, with an etched outline. 11 by 7¾ in.This print happened to be mounted on the same sheet as the watercolour below. It was drawn by J. Dillon, engraved by R. Laurie, and published in 1783. To spectator’s left is a board with the words, “The New Cross House”; on the right a sign of a man’s head.Lent by Sir E. Coates.37CHANTREY CHAPEL OF HENRY V, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.Plate XVII.Drawn with a pen and tinted. 10¼ by 12½ in.A careful architectural drawing, signed and dated, wherein some curious figures known as “the Ragged Regiment” are depicted. These are effigies of royal personages which were exhibited at their funerals. By degrees they got into a neglected state. Some years ago what remained of them was collected together, and the relics are now in the crypt adjoining the pyx chamber. A paper on them was published in “Archaeologia,” vol. lx, whence the following notes are culled identifying a few of the figures. The number refers to that on the drawing. II is thought to have represented Katherine of Valois. It is carved out of a single piece of wood; the dress has been painted bright vermilion. III, Anne of Denmark. IV, Henry VII, face finely modelled in plaster and painted, probably by an Italian. V is held to be Elizabeth of York. VI may have been James I, and VIII Queen Mary I. The fronts of the reliquary cupboards, here shown, have disappeared, their hinges remain. John Carter, an enthusiastic admirer of Gothic architecture, is referred to in our preface.ByJohn Carter, 1786 (1748-1817).Lent by Sir E. Coates.38ABBOT ISLIP’S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.Plate XVIII.Watercolour. 15½ by 21½ in.This painting was exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy in 1796, and is an example of the thorough architectural work which he sometimes did in his earlier years. On a stone in the pavement is“William Turner natus 1775.” It was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1871.ByJ. M. W. Turner, R.A., 1796 (1775-1851).Lent by Mr. R. W. Lloyd.39aSECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE WEST.Watercolour. 6¾ by 9½ in.On the building at west end are the words: “Royal Exchange Insurance for lives.” The tower is surmounted by Gresham’s crest, the grasshopper. Signed and dated.ByG. Shepherd, 1810.Lent by Sir E. Coates.39bSECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.St. Paul’s Cathedral appears in the distance. Signed and dated.ByG. Shepherd, 1812.Lent by Sir E. Coates.39cSECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.Etching and aquatint, touched with sepia. 5 by 7½ in.Same size as last from same point of view and similar in design, but tower as rebuilt, from design by G. Smith, surveyor to the Mercers’ Company, between 1819 and 1824, when a sum of over £34,000 was spent on the fabric.ByG. Shepherd.Lent by Sir E. Coates.40aCHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, FROM SOUTH-WEST.Watercolour. 8 by 9½ in.A church of Norman foundation, but rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and again to a great extent after a fire in 1545. Upper part of tower dates from 1683-4.Signed and dated.ByG. Shepherd, 1815.Lent by Sir E. Coates.40bCHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, FROM FORE STREET.Pencil. 7¾ by 6 in.The building here shown against the church, in foreground, was called the Quest-house. It was destroyed about eighteen years ago.This drawing is signed by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, who between about 1820 and 1859 did hundreds of views of old London, but, unlike others of his surname, never exhibited at the Royal Academy, and is not noticed by Redgrave.ByT. H. Shepherd.Lent by Sir E. Coates.41HALL OF BROTHERHOOD OF HOLY TRINITY, ALDERSGATE.Plate XIX.Pencil. 16 by 13 in.This hall, described on the drawing as a chapel, was on the west side of Aldersgate Street, a little beyond the church of St. Botolph, and was destroyed about 1790. Here was latterly the Aldersgate Coffee-house; the site is marked by Trinity Court.The brotherhood was suppressed by Edward VI. It had been founded in 1377 as a fraternity of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian. The interior here shown has an open timber roof of the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, and a Renaissance fireplace. In the large window is stained glass.William Capon, who made this and many other topographical drawings, was a scene-painter and architect; his antiquarian knowledge was considerable. He was a conceited man, Sheridan called him “Pompous Billy.”ByW. Capon, 1790 (1757-1827).Lent by Sir E. Coates.42aST. JAMES’S PARK AND BUCKINGHAM HOUSE.Watercolour. 16½ by 9¼ in.From the end of the ornamental water looking towards Buckingham House; on the left are important buildings facing the park. Many figures, boy in foreground flying a kite. The canal was formedsoon after the Restoration. Pepys on 16 September 1660, mentions seeing the work in progress.Carefully drawn with a pen and tinted, after the manner of the artist, who usually engraved his views on copper.ByJ. Maurer, 1741.Lent by H.M. the King.42bST. JAMES’S PALACE AND THE MALL.Watercolour. 16¾ by 8¾ in.In the distance is the steeple of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Deer can be seen in the open ground to right.ByJ. Maurer, 1741.Lent by H.M. the King.43ST. MARY-LE-BONE CHURCH.Watercolour. 6½ by 4 in.The new church built in 1813-4. A rural scene, in the foreground are trees and a pond.ByJ. Varley(1778-1842).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.44SALE OF BOOKS BY AUCTION AT SOTHEBY’S.Watercolour. 9¼ by 5¾ in.Drawn with a pen and tinted after Rowlandson’s usual manner.We are fortunate in exhibiting caricatures of auction sales by two historic firms, both still flourishing. Sotheby’s began in 1744 with Mr. Samuel Baker, who at first held sales in taverns and other convenient places. In 1754 he established himself at York Street, Covent Garden, and in 1767 formed a partnership with Mr. J. Leigh. In 1778 the firm became Leigh and Sotheby. We need only add that in 1804 the business was moved to 145 Strand, and in 1818 to 3 Waterloo Bridge, re-named 13 Wellington Street, which was given up two years ago for more commodious quarters in New Bond Street.ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge.45SITE OF EUSTON SQUARE, 1809.Plate XX.Watercolour. 9¾ by 8½ in.Signed “T. Rowlandson.” Written in pencil, but hidden, are the words: “Richard Trevithick’s Railroad, Euston Square 1809.”In fact, the Square dates only from 1825; as late as 1820 its site was a large nursery garden, and a group of farm buildings occupied ground on which the London and North Western Railway now stands. Trevithic, “father of the locomotive engine,” the main facts of whose remarkable career are recorded in “Dict. Nat. Biog.,” must have hired the ground in order to test and exhibit his invention.In the distance is Primrose Hill, with Hampstead beyond. Attractive design and colour give charm to a subject not easy of treatment.Rowlandson, trained in Paris and at the Academy schools, was an accomplished artist, capable of something much more refined than his clever caricatures, which most people know by coarse reproductions of them.ByT. Rowlandson, 1809 (1756-1827).Lent by Mr. H. C. Levis.46SALE OF PICTURES BY AUCTION AT CHRISTIE’S.Watercolour. 11¼ by 8¼ in.The firm owes its origin to a notable man, James Christie, who issued his first catalogue in 1766. A portrait of him, painted by his friend Gainsborough, originally a good advertisement of the skill of the artist, was long hanging in the “great auction rooms” on the south side of Pall Mall, where Christie took up his quarters, next to Schomberg House. It was afterwards at the present address, No. 8 King Street, St. James’s, to which the firm moved in 1824. They now only have an engraving of it. Rowlandson drew another caricature of an auction sale at Christie’s.ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods.47OLD CHEESE-CAKE HOUSE, HYDE PARK, 1797.Plate XXI.Watercolour. 21½ by 12 in.The building, close to the Serpentine, is thus mentioned in Howard’s “English Monsieur” (1674): “Nay, ’tis no London female; she’s a thing that never saw a cheesecake, a tart, or a syllabub at the Lodge in Hyde Park.” Swift writes to Stella thatafter his duel with Lord Mohun the Duke of Hamilton was helped towards the “Cake-house,” but died on the grass before he could reach it. Later it was sometimes called the Mince-pie House. Demolished 1835-36. There is an engraving of it in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for May 1801.Date 1797.Lent by H.M. the King.48aBUCKINGHAM HOUSE.Wash drawing in Indian ink. 10¾ by 5¾ in.Buckingham House in St. James’s Park was designed by Captain William Winde, said to have been a pupil of Gerbier, and to have been born at Bergen-op-Zoom, being finished for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in 1705. There is an account of it with elevation in Sir Reginald Blomfield’s book on English renaissance architecture. It was bought by George III, settled on Queen Charlotte, and here Dr. Johnson had his famous interview with the King. The original building was altered and added to from 1825 onwards until it quite disappeared, Buckingham Palace covering the site.Winde was of Norfolk family, well connected. See references to him in “Notes and Queries,” and his pedigree by Mr. J. Challenor Smith in Surrey Arch. Coll., vol. x.ByJ. Maurer, 1746.Lent by H.M. the King.48bTHE HORSE GUARDS PARADE.Wash drawing in Indian ink. 10¾ by 5¾ in.On spectator’s left is the Admiralty (on the site of Wallingford House), surmounted by a semaphore telegraph. To the left of the Banqueting House is the Guard House, not that designed by Kent and finished by Vardy, but a previous building. Through the gateway beneath, a long procession has issued, the royal carriage with eight horses being in the foreground. Among other buildings shown are the Holbein Gate-house and the Treasury.ByJ. Maurer, about 1750.Lent by H.M. the King.49FISHMONGERS’ HALL FROM THE RIVER.Plate XXII.Watercolour. 12 by 8¼ in.The Fishmongers stand fourth on the list of the City Companies. This was their hall built after the Great Fire by Edward Jerman. It is said to have been the scene of Plate VIII of Hogarth’s “Industry and Idleness,” and was destroyed at the time of the rebuilding of London Bridge, which now covers its site. The present hall, near the north-west angle of the bridge, is a short distance farther up the river. The original hall had been the residence of Lord Fanhope.Date about 1810.Lent by Sir E. Coates.50LANDING AT THE “CROWN AND SCEPTRE” TAVERN, GREENWICH.Watercolour. 11¾ by 8¼ in.Part of Greenwich Hospital in mid-distance. The “Crown and Sceptre” was one of the old riverside taverns which ministered to the taste of Londoners for whitebait.ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.51THE BANK LOTTERY.Watercolour. 23¾ by 16½ in.A lottery in the Rotunda of the Bank of England.Between 1709 and 1824 the Government raised large sums from lotteries authorized by Act of Parliament.ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Sir E. Coates.52BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.Watercolour. 13 by 8¾ in.In Smithfield, entrance of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital on the left. The fair is in progress: there are booths, swings, etc., and many figures. St. Sepulchre’s Church-tower in the distance.In the same frame is an etching of the subject by Rowlandson, to which colour has been crudely added.ByT. Rowlandson, 1807 (1756-1827).Lent by Sir E. Coates.53SAVOY RUINS.Wash drawing in sepia. 12¼ by 8¼ in.The Savoy near the Strand was a house or palace built in 1245 by Peter, Earl of Savoy and Richmond, uncle of Eleanor, wife to Henry III. John, King of France, was imprisoned there after the battle of Poictiers. When in the hands of John of Gaunt it was burnt by Wat Tyler and his followers. After this it appears to have been neglected, till in 1505 Henry VII endowed it as a Hospital of St. John Baptist for the relief of poor people. Suppressed in 1553, and re-endowed by Queen Mary Tudor, seventeenth century plans show an important river frontage. It was maintained as a hospital until 1702, but Strype in 1720 describes it as being partly a prison; in another portion was “the King’s printing press for proclamations,” etc. After gradual decay the last remains of the building were destroyed in the earlier years of the nineteenth century.The arches in mid-distance most likely belong to Blackfriars Bridge. Waterloo Bridge, first called Strand Bridge, was begun in 1811.We may call to mind that the gifted artist who drew this, and died at the age of twenty-seven, was born in the same year as W. M. Turner, whose well-known saying, “if Tom Girtin had lived I should have starved,” is a fine tribute to his genius.ByT. Girtin(1775-1802).Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.54DRURY LANE THEATRE.Watercolour. 9 by 5¾ in.The first theatre on this site was opened by the King’s Company in 1663, and was burnt down in 1672. The next, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was opened in 1674 and was new-faced by the brothers Adam. A third theatre, designed by H. Holland, was opened in 1794 and burnt down in 1809. James and Horace Smith’s “Rejected Addresses” were burlesque prologues for the fourth theatre, designed by Benjamin Dean Wyatt, which is here portrayed. It was opened 10 October 1812, with a prologue by Lord Byron, whose style the Smiths had parodied. The portico in Brydges Street, now Catherine Street, was added when Elliston was lessee, and the colonnade, Little Russell Street, in 1831.This is the original of an engraving in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.” Whichelo, who painted it, devoted himself to topographical and afterwards marine subjects. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and was for many years member of the Old Watercolour Society. He died in 1865.ByJ. M. Whichelo,c.1813.Lent by H.M. the King.55THAMES BELOW BRIDGE, LOOKING TOWARDS ST. PAUL’S.Watercolour. 21 by 13 in.A reach of the river with shipping, and old buildings to left, which, from their position and that of St. Paul’s in the distance, must be on the Surrey shore, near Rotherhithe.By John Thomas, elder son of Domenic Serres, R.A., native of Gascony. He was a successful painter of landscape and marine views, but was ruined by the depravity and extravagance of his wife, born Olive Wilmot, who called herself Princess of Cumberland. He died within the rules of the King’s Bench Prison.ByJ. T. Serres(1759-1825).Lent by Mr. H. Oppenheimer.56FIFE HOUSE FROM THE THAMES.Watercolour. 8¾ by 9½ in.Fife House, Whitehall Yard, built for James Duff, second Earl of Fife in 1772, was let by his executors to the Earl of Liverpool, who died there in 1828, when Prime Minister. It was next to the late United Service Institution originally Vanbrugh’s “Goose-pie,” and was pulled down in 1869.ByG. Shepherd, 1805.Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.57MELBOURNE HOUSE, NOW THE ALBANY, PICCADILLY.Wash drawing in Indian ink. 8½ by 6 in.Designed by Sir William Chambers, and sold in 1771 by the first Lord Holland to the first Viscount Melbourne, who exchanged it with Frederick, Duke of York andAlbanyfor Melbourne (latterly called Dover) House, Whitehall. It was afterwards converted intochambers, the garden behind being built over with additional sets of rooms.Frederick Nash, who drew this, was son of a builder in Lambeth, and studied under Malton the younger, being also employed as a draughtsman by Sir R. Smirke. He began exhibiting at the Academy in 1800, became a member of the Old Watercolour Society, and architectural draughtsman to the Society of Antiquaries.ByF. Nash(1782-1856).Lent by H.M. the King.58RIVER VIEW FROM BELOW YORK WATER-GATE.Watercolour. 9½ by 6 in.The artist who painted this was son of George Barret, R.A., and in 1804 was a foundation member of the Old Watercolour Society. He excelled in classical landscapes, and published a book on the “Theory and Practice of Watercolour Painting.”ByG. Barretthe Younger (1767-1842).Lent by Mr. H. C. Levis.59ST. DUNSTAN’S-IN-THE-WEST, FLEET STREET.Plate XXIII.Watercolour on etched outline. 18¾ by 13 in.The old Church, of early foundation, had been damaged in the Great Fire, and was repeatedly altered and patched. It stood more forward in the street than the present building. When the church was taken down, about 1830, the projecting clock, with its figures which struck the hours and quarters, was bought by the then Marquess of Hertford, and moved to his villa in the Regent’s Park (hence called St. Dunstan’s), long occupied by the first Lord Aldenham, where it still remains. The statue of Queen Elizabeth at the east end of the church came from Ludgate, taken down in 1760, and is now over the entrance of the present church vestry. On the edge of the pavement is a porters’ rest. Temple Bar in mid-distance.ByT. Maltonthe Elder (1726-1801).Lent by Lord Aldenham.60MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL FROM SOUTH-EAST.Watercolour. 9¾ by 6¾ in.Built in 1572. Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” is mentioned by a student named Manningham as having been performed here on 2 February 1601-2. The outside was dressed with stone in 1757.To spectator’s left the Temple Fountain is shown, approached by steps.Lent by Sir E. Coates.61WESTMINSTER ABBEY FROM DEAN’S YARD.Plate XXIV.18¼ by 12¾ in.A general view of the Abbey from the south-west, Westminster schoolboys and masters in foreground. There is an engraving of this subject.ByT. Maltonthe Elder (1726-1801).Lent by the City of Birmingham Art Gallery.62BEAUCHAMP TOWER—TOWER OF LONDON.Watercolour. 6 by 6¾ in.Under the mount are the words in pencil “Beauchamp Tower,” and this is probably correct. The building, however, has been much altered since 1798.Charles Tomkins, painter and aquatint engraver, son of W. Tomkins, A.R.A., did a number of topographical views of London. In 1796 he published a “Tour in the Isle of Wight,” with eighty engravings, and in 1805 “Views of Reading Abbey.”ByC. Tomkins, 1798 (1757-1810).Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.63WAPPING.Plate XXV.21¼ by 16¾ in.Important houses on river front. Boat building in progress.ByT. Girtin(1773-1802).Lent by the Leicester Art Gallery.64EAST INDIA HOUSE FROM THE WEST.Plate XXVI.Watercolour. 38 by 28 in.In “Relics of the Hon. East India Company,” illustrations by W. Griggs, letterpress by Sir George Birdwood and W. Foster, aplate from this watercolour is described as follows: “The House occupied by the East India Company in Leadenhall Street, as refaced in 1726. From a coloured drawing by T. Malton, March 1800.”The East India House, on the south side of Leadenhall Street, is shown on spectator’s right; crowds on the pavement, among them Indians; a coach in the roadway. Opposite are old buildings which escaped the Great Fire.As already implied by the titles, there were two Thomas Maltons, father and son, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish their work. The father (1726-1801) exhibited London views at the Royal Academy in 1772 and 1774. He taught perspective. His watercolours, as a rule, were what were known as “tinted drawings,” begun in Indian ink. The son (1748-1804) received a premium at the Royal Society of Arts in 1774, and a gold medal at the Royal Academy in 1782. In 1792 he published “A Picturesque Tour through the Cities of London and Westminster containing a hundred aquatints.” He also exhibited London views at the Royal Academy.ByT. Maltonthe Younger (1748-1804).Lent by the Secretary of State for India.65THE GENERAL COURT-ROOM, EAST INDIA HOUSE.Watercolour. 7¾ by 5¾ in.Lent by the Secretary of State for India.66THE DIRECTORS’ COURT-ROOM, EAST INDIA HOUSE.Watercolour. 8¾ by 6 in.Shows the two high chairs here exhibited.Lent by the Secretary of State for India.67SADLER’S WELLS.Plate XXVII.Oil picture. 15 by 10¾ in.Sadler’s Wells, between the New River Head and St. John Street Road, Islington, was so called from a spring of mineral water discovered there by a man named Sadler, who in 1683 opened a music-room connected with it. In course of time rope dancing, tumbling, pantomime, and other entertainments took place there. About 1790 it became a theatre, being still among fields. The NewRiver flowed by, and water was introduced from it to a large tank beneath the floor of the stage—used for naval spectacles, etc.Here in 1832 T. P. Cooke made his first appearance as William in “Black-Eyed Susan.” The theatre fell into disrepute, but was revived by Phelps who, 1844-62, made it “the home of the legitimate drama.” Closed for some years, it was rebuilt in 1879, and for a short time was under the management of Mrs. Bateman. This picture agrees with the view of the old house in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.”ByR. C. Andrews, 1792.Lent by the Hon. Lady Lyttelton.68GREEN PARK, 1760.Plate XXVIII.Oil picture. 50 by 31 in.In the foreground is a man seated on a rail, with what looks like a plan or drawing in his left hand. He turns to the spectator and, with his right, points in the direction of Spencer House, the park front of which still remains unaltered. This figure, in all likelihood, represents John Vardy, the architect who designed it. The pond is wrongly named Rosamond’s Pond on the frame. It is mentioned in the Calendar of Treasury Papers, 9 June 1725, as a “canal or basin lately made over against Devonshire House,” and was soon afterwards converted into a reservoir of Chelsea Waterworks. A walk by it, planted with trees, was called the Queen’s Walk. This reservoir was enlarged in 1729, and filled up in 1856. The Green Park Rosamond’s Pond was in the old bed of the Tyburn, much farther west. A more famous Rosamond’s Pond, in St. James’s Park, disappeared 1770. All three are marked on Rocque’s map of 1746. The figures scattered about the foreground and reflected in the water show very well the costume of the period. In the distance is Buckingham House (seeNo. 48).
The numbering of the Drawings and Pictures begins on the Entrance Door, and is continued to the left.
The measurements are in inches (the width preceding the height) and do not include the frame or mount.
The Furniture, etc., is described after the Pictures.
The Committee accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the attributions in the Catalogue.
1OLD LONDON BRIDGE.Plate I.
Watercolour. 17 by 10 in.
The bridge shortly before its removal. From a point on the Surrey side of the river, nearly opposite to old Fishmongers’ Hall.
G. Yates, watercolour painter, worked in London on topographical subjects about 1825-37; in the Crace catalogue he is called Major Yates.
ByG. Yates, 1826.Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.
2AUSTIN FRIARS CHURCH FROM THE NORTH-WEST.
Watercolour. 7¾ by 7½ in.
The priory of the Augustine Friars in London was foundeda.d.1253, and the church was rebuilt about a century afterwards. In 1550 the nave was made over to the Dutch community in London, and it has been in their hands ever since. The choir and steeple were destroyed by the then Marquess of Winchester at the beginning ofthe seventeenth century. In 1862 what remained of the church was very much injured by fire, the roof and all the fittings being burnt. It was “restored” at a cost of about £12,000.
The interest of this drawing is due to the fact that it shows the church, with its decorated tracery and staircase turret, before the disastrous fire.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
3BOLINGBROKE HOUSE, BATTERSEA.Plate II.
Watercolour. 7 by 4¾ in.
The St. John family became Lords of the Manor of Battersea in the early part of the seventeenth century. Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke, retired to the manor-house when nearing the end of his career, and died there in 1751. In 1763 the manor was sold to Lord Spencer, and much of the house is said to have been pulled down not long afterwards. The remainder was enclosed in ground attached to a mill built about 1794, and it stands in the premises of the existing flour mill near the parish church, but is now dilapidated.
This old drawing represents the house much as it was a few years ago. It contained a panelled room, a good staircase, and remains of a seventeenth-century plaster ceiling still there in 1920.Lent by Mr. P. Norman.
4OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.Plate III.
Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 9 in.
View of the bridge and of Westminster from mid-stream. The western towers of Westminster Abbey, as shown, were completed in 1739. Among prominent buildings are Westminster Hall, St. Stephen’s Chapel, and the Church of St. John the Evangelist with its four queer towers finished in 1728. In the distance is Lambeth Palace. Old Westminster Bridge, designed by the Swiss architect C. Labelye, was begun in 1738-9 and opened 18 November 1750.
Antonio Canale, the Venetian painter, usually called Canaletto, visited England in 1746, and remained about two years. During that time he produced many pictures and drawings, chiefly of London scenes. An inscription on the back of a picture of the Rotunda at Ranelagh (Nat. Gal. Cat. 1906, No. 1429) has been thought to prove that he was here in 1754.
ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.
5VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.
Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 7¾ in.
ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.
6VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM WESTMINSTER.Plate IV.
Pen drawing. 15½ by 5¼ in.
Rare example of Hollar’s pen-work, unfinished. The point of view is about that of the “King’s Bridge,” Westminster. In the distance old St. Paul’s is faintly pencilled. Signature on a plank to the left.
Wenceslaus Hollar, born at Prague, was brought to England by the Earl of Arundel in 1637, and worked under his patronage for years. In the Civil War he served under the Marquess of Winchester, and was taken prisoner at Basing House, but escaped to Antwerp. He afterwards returned, was appointed designer to the King, and spent the rest of his life here with an interval when he was sent by Charles II to Tangiers. A most industrious artist, we owe to him many fine etchings of London; died in poverty.
ByW. Hollar(1607-1677).Lent by H.M. the King.
7VIEW UP RIVER FROM GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.
Pen and wash. 19 by 8½ in.
Westminster Abbey, Bridge, and Hall are conspicuous, so is the Banqueting House, Whitehall.
ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.
8WESTMINSTER BRIDGE AND ABBEY.Plate V.
Pen and wash. 19 by 10½ in.
View from Surrey side; afêteof some kind is in progress; the river crowded with sailing boats and barges and wherries all proceeding up stream. The chief Westminster buildings are delineated.
ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.
9WESTMINSTER ABBEY, SOUTH VIEW FROM RIVER.Plate VI.
Pen and watercolour. 5¼ by 3 in.
A choice drawing delicately tinted, shows Henry VIIth’s Chapel and the Chapter-house. The tower to the left of the latter must be the King’s Jewel-house. The narrow strip to extreme left, intended perhaps to represent part of a turret of Lambeth Palace, is a later addition joined on.
ByW. Hollar(1607-1677).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.
10VIEW FROM AN ARCHWAY OF WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.
Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 11½ in.
Looking down stream, shows the riverside from York Water-tower to St. Paul’s.
ByCanaletto,c.1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.
11VIEW UP RIVER TO WESTMINSTER.Plate VII.
Wash and pen drawing. 28¼ by 15¼ in.
On spectator’s right the first important object is York Water-gate still standing at the end of Buckingham Street, Strand, probably designed by Inigo Jones in 1626, and executed by Nicholas Stone. (The design is claimed for the latter in his Account Book.) Behind it is the house where Samuel Pepys lived with Hewer. No. 14 Buckingham Street is on the site. Next is York Water-tower, a slender wooden building about seventy feet high, part of the waterworks established 27 Charles II to supply the West End with Thames water. They were burnt down and re-erected in 1690. Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall are prominent. Westminster Bridge is unfinished. Lambeth Palace appears in the distance to spectator’s left. A drawing apparently copied from this is in the print room of the British Museum.
ByCanaletto,c.1746 (1697-1768).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.
12OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.Plate VIII.
Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 11½ in.
This view appears to be taken from the Westminster side. According to Labelye’s “Description,” published in 1751, the bridge wasalmost finished in the spring of 1747, but soon afterwards a pier settled badly. The two adjoining arches were thus wrecked and had to be supported by wooden framework, the spandrels, balustrades, etc., being removed. The effects of this accident are here shown; they delayed the opening for years.
ByCanaletto, 1747 (1697-1768).Lent by H.M. the King.
13LAMBETH PALACE GATE-HOUSE, AND PARISH CHURCH.
Watercolour. 7¼ by 5¼ in.
The Palace cannot be seen; in the distance is Westminster Bridge.
The Gate-house, of red brick, with stone archway and quoins, was built in the time of Archbishop Morton who died in 1500. The fifteenth-century church of St. Mary, Lambeth, after being often altered and repaired, was almost entirely rebuilt in 1850-52.
John Varley, born in 1778, exhibited at the Royal Academy and in 1804 became a foundation member of the Old Watercolour Society. Many of his earlier subjects are taken from the banks of the Thames.
ByJ. Varley(1778-1842).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.
14PIAZZA, COVENT GARDEN.Plate IX.
Watercolour. 12 by 10¾ in.
A piece of the Piazza designed by Inigo Jones is here shown.
The letters “PS” are stamped on the lower left-hand corner of the drawing, a proof that it was in the collection of Paul Sandby, but according to the pencil note beneath it was by Thomas Sandby. Each brother drew subjects of this character. They were accomplished artists, and foundation members of the Royal Academy. Thomas was the first R.A. Professor of Architecture. Paul is believed to have been the first in this country who practised the art of aquatint.
ByT. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798).Lent by H.M. the King.
15CHURCH OF ST. DUNSTAN-IN-THE-EAST DURING RECONSTRUCTION.
Pen and wash drawing. 16½ by 17½ in.
After the Great Fire Wren rebuilt the church in his usual style excepting the tower, which is a bold attempt at Gothic with a spireon four flying buttresses. In 1817, the body of the church having become dilapidated, it was resolved to take it down and rebuild it to match the tower. The first stone of the new structure was laid on 26 November of that year. If the date under this drawing be correct, the work must have proceeded slowly. The roof is off, but Wren’s renaissance arches still remain.
Date 1819.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
16OLD SOMERSET HOUSE AND GARDEN.Plate X.
Watercolour. 29½ by 20¼ in.
Old Somerset House was built by the Protector, brother of Jane Seymour and maternal uncle of Edward VI, being begun soon after the death of Henry VIII. During a portion of Mary’s reign it was assigned to her sister Elizabeth. James I granted it to his Queen, Anne of Denmark. Charles handed it over to his Queen, Henrietta Maria, and caused a chapel for Roman Catholics to be added to the building. This was designed by Inigo Jones and consecrated in 1635, and he did other work there. A picture at Dulwich, engraved for Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata,” shows it before his chapel and alterations destroyed the uniform character of the building. It can hardly be from nature, as the artist was Cornelis Bol, who also portrayed the Great Fire. The present view must have been painted shortly before its demolition in 1775. An arcaded portion designed by Inigo Jones, stands out prominently.
ByT. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798).Lent by H.M. the King.
17OLD MANSION IN LEADENHALL STREET.
Watercolour. 12½ by 18 in.
To spectator’s right, above nearer buildings, is the spire of St. Peter’s Cornhill, and behind it the tower of St. Michael’s, Cornhill.
If, as noted in pencil, this rather ornate structure was pulled down “for the East India House,” it must have been after the rebuilding of the latter from Jupp’s design, for it is shown in the large watercolour by T. Malton (No. 77) as immediately west of that building.
About 1800Lent by Sir E. Coates.
18WESTMINSTER FROM THE GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.
Watercolour. 14¼ by 10½ in.
This drawing, likeNo. 14, is stamped with the initials “PS.” It was therefore in the collection of Paul Sandby, and below it, on mount, is the following inscription (not contemporary), “Drawn by T Sandby 1752.”
ByT. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798).Lent by H.M. the King.
19OLD LONDON BRIDGE FROM BILLINGSGATE.Plate XI.
Watercolour. 21¼ by 12½ in.
Shows, on the Surrey side of the river, St. Olave’s Church, Tooley Street, lately closed, a neighbouring shot tower destroyed in a fire of 1843, and St. Saviour’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral.
ByG. Yates, 1828.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
20OLD LONDON BRIDGE FROM THE WEST.
Watercolour. 22 by 12½ in.
The bridge as altered when the houses on it were pulled down soon after the middle of the eighteenth century. The wide arch was then formed by the removal of a pier, two arches being thrown into one, which nearly caused the collapse of the fabric. An archaic steamer has a greyhound painted on its paddle-box.
ByG. Yates, 1830.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
21BARN ELMS, 1793.
Watercolour. 12 by 9½ in.
Scene by the river near Barnes. In the distance are the towers of Fulham Church and of Putney Church at each end of old Putney Bridge.
Barn Elms, east of what was the village of Barnes and extending to the river, doubtless derived its second name from the trees that abounded there. The mansion called Barn Elms, which is the chief building and has considerable grounds attached to it, is now occupied by the Ranelagh Club, which moved there from Ranelagh House, Fulham (not to be confused with Ranelagh, Chelsea), in 1884. AtBarn Elms, Jacob Tonson, the famous publisher, secretary of the Kitcat Club, built a gallery for the reception of portraits of the members.
The painting, signed “EE,” is by Edward Edwards, elected A.R.A. in 1771, and made Professor of Perspective in 1788.
ByE. Edwards, A.R.A. (1738-1806).Lent by Sir H. Wilson.
22THE MONUMENT FROM FISH STREET HILL.
Watercolour on etched outline. 9 by 12 in.
The Monument, designed by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London, was finished in 1677. Beyond it is shown the steeple of the church of St. Magnus, also designed by Wren; beyond that again, part of the roadway of old London Bridge. After the removal of the houses on the bridge, its east path was continued along a passage then formed through the church tower. Fish Street Hill is a continuation of Gracechurch Street to the south, and was the main thoroughfare to old London Bridge.
The painting is unsigned and undated: it belongs perhaps to the beginning of the nineteenth century.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
23CAMP NEAR SERPENTINE, HYDE PARK, 1780.Plate XII.
Watercolour. 19 by 10 in.
Tents near the water. In the foreground a group of figures. To the left a dog is harnessed to a barrow, a man pushing behind.
Paul Sandby published “Views in the Encampments in the Parks,” 1780, for which series this was probably done.
ByP. Sandby, R.A., 1780 (1725-1809).Lent by H.M. the King.
24OPERA HOUSE, HAYMARKET.
Watercolour. 10½ by 7¾ in.
The first theatre on this site (designed by Sir John Vanbrugh) was opened in 1705 and burnt down in 1789. The second building, which is here represented, was begun in 1790, and was enlarged by J. Nash and G. S. Repton in 1816-8.
R. B. Schnebbelie, whose father also practised art, and whosegrandfather, a native of Zurich, had been in the Dutch navy, was employed as a draughtsman for many years beginning about 1803, and did much good work for Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata”; this is the original of an engraving in that publication. He died about 1849.
ByR. B. Schnebbelie, 1819.Lent by H.M. the King.
25KING STREET GATE-HOUSE.
Watercolour. 8¼ by 13 in.
The original of an engraving which is in the first volume of “Vetusta Monumenta,” published by the Society of Antiquaries, the latter having on it the date 1725. This building stood at the north end of King Street and north-east corner of Downing Street, some little distance south of the so-called Holbein or Whitehall Gate-house, and although less ornate was of some beauty and importance, as may here be seen. It also dated from the time of Henry VIII, and was demolished in 1723 to improve the approaches to Westminster.
George Vertue was in 1717 appointed engraver to the Society of Antiquaries, and did many excellent engravings for them; he also, as we see, practised in watercolour, and his literary works are of value. He collected a mass of memoranda relating to former artists, and this collection, now in the British Museum, having been bought after his death by Horace Walpole, formed the basis of the latter’s “Anecdotes of Painting in England.” Vertue lived and died a strict Roman Catholic.
ByG. Vertue, 1723 (1684-1756).Lent by H.M. the King.
26THE OLD PLAYHOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.
Watercolour. 8½ by 7½ in.
A brick building, with stone dressings and a tiled roof. It was on the site of a former theatre and dated from 1714. Here “The Beggar’s Opera” was produced, and ran for sixty nights. After various vicissitudes it became a store-place for Messrs. Copeland and Spode’s china, and was finally demolished for the enlargement of the Museum of the College of Surgeons.Lent by H.M. the King.
27CUPER’S GARDENS, LAMBETH, FROM THE RIVER.
Watercolour. 15½ by 6¾ in.
These gardens, over against Somerset House in the Strand, were named after Boydell Cuper, gardener to Thomas, Earl of Arundel, who, when Arundel House was taken down, moved some of the mutilated marbles there, and opened them as a place of popular amusement. It continued to be thus used, and was famous for its fireworks. Degenerating in character, it was suppressed about the year 1753. On the site Messrs. Beaufoy established their works; they moved to South Lambeth when Waterloo Bridge (which runs over part of the gardens) was erected. The watercolour hardly looks as if it were earlier than the date of the closing of the gardens. Perhaps there was no great change in the entrance for some years.
Lent by Sir E. Coates.
28THE NURSERY, GOLDEN LANE.
Watercolour. 6¼ by 8¼ in.
Wrongly named the Fortune Play House, Golden Lane. The latter, originally built for Henslowe and Alleyn according to contract, “the frame to be sett square,” was destroyed by fire in 1621, and was replaced by a fabric of circular plan soon afterwards. In 1661 its site was advertised to be let for building.
The “Nursery,” here depicted, was a school for the education of children for the stage, having been erected as the result of a patent granted by Charles II to one of the Legge family. It was drawn by J. T. Smith, who called it the Queen’s Nursery. The present watercolour was the original of an engraving in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.”
George Shepherd devoted himself to topographical work. There are many watercolours of old London buildings by him in the Coates and Crace collections and elsewhere, executed from about 1792 to 1830 (his name being thus spelt), and they are good records.
ByG. Shepherd, 1811.Lent by H.M. the King.
29ST. PAUL’S FROM AN ARCH OF BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.
Watercolour. 6¾ by 8¼ in.
ByT. Maltonthe Younger (1748-1804).Lent by Mr. A. A. Allen.
30aREMAINS OF WINCHESTER HOUSE, AUSTIN FRIARS, FROM GREAT WINCHESTER STREET.
Watercolour. 8½ by 7 in.
After the Dissolution the precinct of Austin Friars, except the nave of the church, came into the hands of William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester, who there made a residence for himself. A portion of it remained until 1844, and is here shown; the heavy portico is evidently a later addition. During recent excavations masonry was found which must have belonged to this building.
ByG. Shepherd, 1811.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
30bBACK OF WINCHESTER HOUSE, AUSTIN FRIARS.
Watercolour. 7¼ by 4¾ in.
Samuel Ireland, who painted this, was originally a mechanic of Spitalfields. He took to art, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782, and brought out various illustrated books. The last was “Picturesque Views of the Inns of Court,” published in 1800, the year in which he died. His son achieved notoriety as forger of Shakespeare manuscripts.
ByS. Ireland.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
31INTERIOR OF SECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE.Plate XIII.
Watercolour. 21½ by 16 in.
The first Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, being opened by Queen Elizabeth 23 January 1570-71. It was destroyed in the Great Fire.
The second Exchange, designed by Edward Jarman or Jerman, City surveyor, and begun 1667, was, like the earlier one, a quadrangular building, with a clock tower on the chief front facing Cornhill. Business was transacted in the covered walk or cloister within. The statue of Charles II in the centre was by Grinling Gibbons.
This view was drawn from the north-west corner of the walk; the pinnacles of St. Michael’s church tower, Cornhill, appear above the building.
Unsigned. Date probably about 1810.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
32VIEW FROM A HOUSE IN PALL MALL.
Watercolour. 11¼ by 14¾ in.
This view is signed and dated 1824, and forms a fitting companion toNo. 34, which is of the same style. The artist, William Hunt, born in 1790, had a great reputation in his day as a painter of fruit, flowers, birds’ nests, and other subjects of the kind, and also of rustic figures. His landscape is less known, and the works by him here exhibited are executed with unusual freedom. In these examples much of the outline is drawn with a pen.
The artist in this case must have been sitting on the balustraded projection of a building, long ago destroyed, on the north side of Pall Mall. He looked east, and the steeple of the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields appears in the distance.
ByW. Hunt, 1824 (1790-1864).Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.
33CHURCH OF ST. PETER LE POOR, OLD BROAD STREET.Plate XIV.
Watercolour. 13½ by 17½ in.
This is the old church of St. Peter Le Poor on the west side of Old Broad Street, which in Stow’s opinion may have been so called because it was “sometime peradventure a poor parish.” It escaped the Great Fire, but traffic increasing, as it needed repair and projected into the street, it was pulled down in 1788 and rebuilt farther back. The second church, an indifferent piece of architecture, has been destroyed under the Union of Benefices Act within the last few years.
Lent by Sir E. Coates.
34VIEW FROM THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. MARTIN’S-IN-THE-FIELDS.Plate XV.
Watercolour. 13¼ by 19½ in.
In “Notes on Prout and Hunt” by Ruskin for an exhibition in 1879-80, he says: “Hunt learned his business not in spots but in lines. Compare the sketch of the river-side, No. 124, which is as powerful in lines as Rembrandt, and the St. Martin’s Church, No. 123, which is like a bit of Hogarth.” The view is along the colonnaded west front of the church, and up St. Martin’s Lane, of which the part here shown no longer exists. The bit of churchyard with tombstones disappeared on the formation of Duncannon Street.
ByW. Hunt(1790-1864).Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.
35ENCAMPMENT IN THE GROUNDS OF MONTAGUE HOUSE.Plate XVI.
Watercolour. 26½ by 19½ in.
The first Montague House, Bloomsbury, was destroyed by fire 19 January 1685-6, and the second, here shown, was designed soon afterwards by a Frenchman, Pierre Puget, or Poughet. The encampment is on the open space at the back of the mansion. The West Yorkshire Regiment is represented marching past Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Bangor, afterwards Bishop of Canterbury. Montague House had been bought for the British Museum under an Act passed in 1753. Additions were gradually made, but it was not until 1845 that the old building was entirely demolished.
S. H. Grimm, who painted this watercolour, which is signed and dated, was born at Burgdorf, Switzerland, and settled in London about 1778. He sometimes exhibited at the Royal Academy, and was employed by the Society of Antiquaries, his work being chiefly topographical.
ByS. H. Grimm, 1780 (1734-1794).Lent by H.M. the King.
36aVIEW NEAR THE TURNPIKE AT NEW CROSS.
Watercolour, outlined with a pen. 12½ by 9½ in.
The scene is a rural one, with what appear to be an oast-house and other farm buildings in the foreground. The hill is called in Rocque’s map showing the Environs of London (1745) Plow’d Garlick Hill, afterwards Telegraph Hill. On it stands Aske’s School, belonging to the Haberdashers’ Company. Much of the rest remained open until a few years ago; now only a recreation ground has been saved from the builder. This hill is immediately south of the Turnpike site, now called New Cross Gate. New Cross was an outlying district of the parish of Deptford. Evelyn, in his “Diary,” 10 November 1675, mentions going in his coach from Sayes Court to “New Cross” to accompany Lord Berkeley to Dover.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
36bNEW CROSS TURNPIKE ON THE KENT ROAD.
Mezzotint, with an etched outline. 11 by 7¾ in.
This print happened to be mounted on the same sheet as the watercolour below. It was drawn by J. Dillon, engraved by R. Laurie, and published in 1783. To spectator’s left is a board with the words, “The New Cross House”; on the right a sign of a man’s head.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
37CHANTREY CHAPEL OF HENRY V, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.Plate XVII.
Drawn with a pen and tinted. 10¼ by 12½ in.
A careful architectural drawing, signed and dated, wherein some curious figures known as “the Ragged Regiment” are depicted. These are effigies of royal personages which were exhibited at their funerals. By degrees they got into a neglected state. Some years ago what remained of them was collected together, and the relics are now in the crypt adjoining the pyx chamber. A paper on them was published in “Archaeologia,” vol. lx, whence the following notes are culled identifying a few of the figures. The number refers to that on the drawing. II is thought to have represented Katherine of Valois. It is carved out of a single piece of wood; the dress has been painted bright vermilion. III, Anne of Denmark. IV, Henry VII, face finely modelled in plaster and painted, probably by an Italian. V is held to be Elizabeth of York. VI may have been James I, and VIII Queen Mary I. The fronts of the reliquary cupboards, here shown, have disappeared, their hinges remain. John Carter, an enthusiastic admirer of Gothic architecture, is referred to in our preface.
ByJohn Carter, 1786 (1748-1817).Lent by Sir E. Coates.
38ABBOT ISLIP’S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.Plate XVIII.
Watercolour. 15½ by 21½ in.
This painting was exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy in 1796, and is an example of the thorough architectural work which he sometimes did in his earlier years. On a stone in the pavement is“William Turner natus 1775.” It was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1871.
ByJ. M. W. Turner, R.A., 1796 (1775-1851).Lent by Mr. R. W. Lloyd.
39aSECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE WEST.
Watercolour. 6¾ by 9½ in.
On the building at west end are the words: “Royal Exchange Insurance for lives.” The tower is surmounted by Gresham’s crest, the grasshopper. Signed and dated.
ByG. Shepherd, 1810.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
39bSECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
St. Paul’s Cathedral appears in the distance. Signed and dated.
ByG. Shepherd, 1812.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
39cSECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
Etching and aquatint, touched with sepia. 5 by 7½ in.
Same size as last from same point of view and similar in design, but tower as rebuilt, from design by G. Smith, surveyor to the Mercers’ Company, between 1819 and 1824, when a sum of over £34,000 was spent on the fabric.
ByG. Shepherd.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
40aCHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, FROM SOUTH-WEST.
Watercolour. 8 by 9½ in.
A church of Norman foundation, but rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and again to a great extent after a fire in 1545. Upper part of tower dates from 1683-4.
Signed and dated.
ByG. Shepherd, 1815.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
40bCHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, FROM FORE STREET.
Pencil. 7¾ by 6 in.
The building here shown against the church, in foreground, was called the Quest-house. It was destroyed about eighteen years ago.
This drawing is signed by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, who between about 1820 and 1859 did hundreds of views of old London, but, unlike others of his surname, never exhibited at the Royal Academy, and is not noticed by Redgrave.
ByT. H. Shepherd.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
41HALL OF BROTHERHOOD OF HOLY TRINITY, ALDERSGATE.Plate XIX.
Pencil. 16 by 13 in.
This hall, described on the drawing as a chapel, was on the west side of Aldersgate Street, a little beyond the church of St. Botolph, and was destroyed about 1790. Here was latterly the Aldersgate Coffee-house; the site is marked by Trinity Court.
The brotherhood was suppressed by Edward VI. It had been founded in 1377 as a fraternity of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian. The interior here shown has an open timber roof of the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, and a Renaissance fireplace. In the large window is stained glass.
William Capon, who made this and many other topographical drawings, was a scene-painter and architect; his antiquarian knowledge was considerable. He was a conceited man, Sheridan called him “Pompous Billy.”
ByW. Capon, 1790 (1757-1827).Lent by Sir E. Coates.
42aST. JAMES’S PARK AND BUCKINGHAM HOUSE.
Watercolour. 16½ by 9¼ in.
From the end of the ornamental water looking towards Buckingham House; on the left are important buildings facing the park. Many figures, boy in foreground flying a kite. The canal was formedsoon after the Restoration. Pepys on 16 September 1660, mentions seeing the work in progress.
Carefully drawn with a pen and tinted, after the manner of the artist, who usually engraved his views on copper.
ByJ. Maurer, 1741.Lent by H.M. the King.
42bST. JAMES’S PALACE AND THE MALL.
Watercolour. 16¾ by 8¾ in.
In the distance is the steeple of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Deer can be seen in the open ground to right.
ByJ. Maurer, 1741.Lent by H.M. the King.
43ST. MARY-LE-BONE CHURCH.
Watercolour. 6½ by 4 in.
The new church built in 1813-4. A rural scene, in the foreground are trees and a pond.
ByJ. Varley(1778-1842).Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.
44SALE OF BOOKS BY AUCTION AT SOTHEBY’S.
Watercolour. 9¼ by 5¾ in.
Drawn with a pen and tinted after Rowlandson’s usual manner.
We are fortunate in exhibiting caricatures of auction sales by two historic firms, both still flourishing. Sotheby’s began in 1744 with Mr. Samuel Baker, who at first held sales in taverns and other convenient places. In 1754 he established himself at York Street, Covent Garden, and in 1767 formed a partnership with Mr. J. Leigh. In 1778 the firm became Leigh and Sotheby. We need only add that in 1804 the business was moved to 145 Strand, and in 1818 to 3 Waterloo Bridge, re-named 13 Wellington Street, which was given up two years ago for more commodious quarters in New Bond Street.
ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge.
45SITE OF EUSTON SQUARE, 1809.Plate XX.
Watercolour. 9¾ by 8½ in.
Signed “T. Rowlandson.” Written in pencil, but hidden, are the words: “Richard Trevithick’s Railroad, Euston Square 1809.”In fact, the Square dates only from 1825; as late as 1820 its site was a large nursery garden, and a group of farm buildings occupied ground on which the London and North Western Railway now stands. Trevithic, “father of the locomotive engine,” the main facts of whose remarkable career are recorded in “Dict. Nat. Biog.,” must have hired the ground in order to test and exhibit his invention.
In the distance is Primrose Hill, with Hampstead beyond. Attractive design and colour give charm to a subject not easy of treatment.
Rowlandson, trained in Paris and at the Academy schools, was an accomplished artist, capable of something much more refined than his clever caricatures, which most people know by coarse reproductions of them.
ByT. Rowlandson, 1809 (1756-1827).Lent by Mr. H. C. Levis.
46SALE OF PICTURES BY AUCTION AT CHRISTIE’S.
Watercolour. 11¼ by 8¼ in.
The firm owes its origin to a notable man, James Christie, who issued his first catalogue in 1766. A portrait of him, painted by his friend Gainsborough, originally a good advertisement of the skill of the artist, was long hanging in the “great auction rooms” on the south side of Pall Mall, where Christie took up his quarters, next to Schomberg House. It was afterwards at the present address, No. 8 King Street, St. James’s, to which the firm moved in 1824. They now only have an engraving of it. Rowlandson drew another caricature of an auction sale at Christie’s.
ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods.
47OLD CHEESE-CAKE HOUSE, HYDE PARK, 1797.Plate XXI.
Watercolour. 21½ by 12 in.
The building, close to the Serpentine, is thus mentioned in Howard’s “English Monsieur” (1674): “Nay, ’tis no London female; she’s a thing that never saw a cheesecake, a tart, or a syllabub at the Lodge in Hyde Park.” Swift writes to Stella thatafter his duel with Lord Mohun the Duke of Hamilton was helped towards the “Cake-house,” but died on the grass before he could reach it. Later it was sometimes called the Mince-pie House. Demolished 1835-36. There is an engraving of it in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for May 1801.
Date 1797.Lent by H.M. the King.
48aBUCKINGHAM HOUSE.
Wash drawing in Indian ink. 10¾ by 5¾ in.
Buckingham House in St. James’s Park was designed by Captain William Winde, said to have been a pupil of Gerbier, and to have been born at Bergen-op-Zoom, being finished for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in 1705. There is an account of it with elevation in Sir Reginald Blomfield’s book on English renaissance architecture. It was bought by George III, settled on Queen Charlotte, and here Dr. Johnson had his famous interview with the King. The original building was altered and added to from 1825 onwards until it quite disappeared, Buckingham Palace covering the site.
Winde was of Norfolk family, well connected. See references to him in “Notes and Queries,” and his pedigree by Mr. J. Challenor Smith in Surrey Arch. Coll., vol. x.
ByJ. Maurer, 1746.Lent by H.M. the King.
48bTHE HORSE GUARDS PARADE.
Wash drawing in Indian ink. 10¾ by 5¾ in.
On spectator’s left is the Admiralty (on the site of Wallingford House), surmounted by a semaphore telegraph. To the left of the Banqueting House is the Guard House, not that designed by Kent and finished by Vardy, but a previous building. Through the gateway beneath, a long procession has issued, the royal carriage with eight horses being in the foreground. Among other buildings shown are the Holbein Gate-house and the Treasury.
ByJ. Maurer, about 1750.Lent by H.M. the King.
49FISHMONGERS’ HALL FROM THE RIVER.Plate XXII.
Watercolour. 12 by 8¼ in.
The Fishmongers stand fourth on the list of the City Companies. This was their hall built after the Great Fire by Edward Jerman. It is said to have been the scene of Plate VIII of Hogarth’s “Industry and Idleness,” and was destroyed at the time of the rebuilding of London Bridge, which now covers its site. The present hall, near the north-west angle of the bridge, is a short distance farther up the river. The original hall had been the residence of Lord Fanhope.
Date about 1810.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
50LANDING AT THE “CROWN AND SCEPTRE” TAVERN, GREENWICH.
Watercolour. 11¾ by 8¼ in.
Part of Greenwich Hospital in mid-distance. The “Crown and Sceptre” was one of the old riverside taverns which ministered to the taste of Londoners for whitebait.
ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.
51THE BANK LOTTERY.
Watercolour. 23¾ by 16½ in.
A lottery in the Rotunda of the Bank of England.
Between 1709 and 1824 the Government raised large sums from lotteries authorized by Act of Parliament.
ByT. Rowlandson(1756-1827).Lent by Sir E. Coates.
52BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.
Watercolour. 13 by 8¾ in.
In Smithfield, entrance of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital on the left. The fair is in progress: there are booths, swings, etc., and many figures. St. Sepulchre’s Church-tower in the distance.
In the same frame is an etching of the subject by Rowlandson, to which colour has been crudely added.
ByT. Rowlandson, 1807 (1756-1827).Lent by Sir E. Coates.
53SAVOY RUINS.
Wash drawing in sepia. 12¼ by 8¼ in.
The Savoy near the Strand was a house or palace built in 1245 by Peter, Earl of Savoy and Richmond, uncle of Eleanor, wife to Henry III. John, King of France, was imprisoned there after the battle of Poictiers. When in the hands of John of Gaunt it was burnt by Wat Tyler and his followers. After this it appears to have been neglected, till in 1505 Henry VII endowed it as a Hospital of St. John Baptist for the relief of poor people. Suppressed in 1553, and re-endowed by Queen Mary Tudor, seventeenth century plans show an important river frontage. It was maintained as a hospital until 1702, but Strype in 1720 describes it as being partly a prison; in another portion was “the King’s printing press for proclamations,” etc. After gradual decay the last remains of the building were destroyed in the earlier years of the nineteenth century.
The arches in mid-distance most likely belong to Blackfriars Bridge. Waterloo Bridge, first called Strand Bridge, was begun in 1811.
We may call to mind that the gifted artist who drew this, and died at the age of twenty-seven, was born in the same year as W. M. Turner, whose well-known saying, “if Tom Girtin had lived I should have starved,” is a fine tribute to his genius.
ByT. Girtin(1775-1802).Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.
54DRURY LANE THEATRE.
Watercolour. 9 by 5¾ in.
The first theatre on this site was opened by the King’s Company in 1663, and was burnt down in 1672. The next, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was opened in 1674 and was new-faced by the brothers Adam. A third theatre, designed by H. Holland, was opened in 1794 and burnt down in 1809. James and Horace Smith’s “Rejected Addresses” were burlesque prologues for the fourth theatre, designed by Benjamin Dean Wyatt, which is here portrayed. It was opened 10 October 1812, with a prologue by Lord Byron, whose style the Smiths had parodied. The portico in Brydges Street, now Catherine Street, was added when Elliston was lessee, and the colonnade, Little Russell Street, in 1831.
This is the original of an engraving in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.” Whichelo, who painted it, devoted himself to topographical and afterwards marine subjects. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and was for many years member of the Old Watercolour Society. He died in 1865.
ByJ. M. Whichelo,c.1813.Lent by H.M. the King.
55THAMES BELOW BRIDGE, LOOKING TOWARDS ST. PAUL’S.
Watercolour. 21 by 13 in.
A reach of the river with shipping, and old buildings to left, which, from their position and that of St. Paul’s in the distance, must be on the Surrey shore, near Rotherhithe.
By John Thomas, elder son of Domenic Serres, R.A., native of Gascony. He was a successful painter of landscape and marine views, but was ruined by the depravity and extravagance of his wife, born Olive Wilmot, who called herself Princess of Cumberland. He died within the rules of the King’s Bench Prison.
ByJ. T. Serres(1759-1825).Lent by Mr. H. Oppenheimer.
56FIFE HOUSE FROM THE THAMES.
Watercolour. 8¾ by 9½ in.
Fife House, Whitehall Yard, built for James Duff, second Earl of Fife in 1772, was let by his executors to the Earl of Liverpool, who died there in 1828, when Prime Minister. It was next to the late United Service Institution originally Vanbrugh’s “Goose-pie,” and was pulled down in 1869.
ByG. Shepherd, 1805.Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.
57MELBOURNE HOUSE, NOW THE ALBANY, PICCADILLY.
Wash drawing in Indian ink. 8½ by 6 in.
Designed by Sir William Chambers, and sold in 1771 by the first Lord Holland to the first Viscount Melbourne, who exchanged it with Frederick, Duke of York andAlbanyfor Melbourne (latterly called Dover) House, Whitehall. It was afterwards converted intochambers, the garden behind being built over with additional sets of rooms.
Frederick Nash, who drew this, was son of a builder in Lambeth, and studied under Malton the younger, being also employed as a draughtsman by Sir R. Smirke. He began exhibiting at the Academy in 1800, became a member of the Old Watercolour Society, and architectural draughtsman to the Society of Antiquaries.
ByF. Nash(1782-1856).Lent by H.M. the King.
58RIVER VIEW FROM BELOW YORK WATER-GATE.
Watercolour. 9½ by 6 in.
The artist who painted this was son of George Barret, R.A., and in 1804 was a foundation member of the Old Watercolour Society. He excelled in classical landscapes, and published a book on the “Theory and Practice of Watercolour Painting.”
ByG. Barretthe Younger (1767-1842).Lent by Mr. H. C. Levis.
59ST. DUNSTAN’S-IN-THE-WEST, FLEET STREET.Plate XXIII.
Watercolour on etched outline. 18¾ by 13 in.
The old Church, of early foundation, had been damaged in the Great Fire, and was repeatedly altered and patched. It stood more forward in the street than the present building. When the church was taken down, about 1830, the projecting clock, with its figures which struck the hours and quarters, was bought by the then Marquess of Hertford, and moved to his villa in the Regent’s Park (hence called St. Dunstan’s), long occupied by the first Lord Aldenham, where it still remains. The statue of Queen Elizabeth at the east end of the church came from Ludgate, taken down in 1760, and is now over the entrance of the present church vestry. On the edge of the pavement is a porters’ rest. Temple Bar in mid-distance.
ByT. Maltonthe Elder (1726-1801).Lent by Lord Aldenham.
60MIDDLE TEMPLE HALL FROM SOUTH-EAST.
Watercolour. 9¾ by 6¾ in.
Built in 1572. Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” is mentioned by a student named Manningham as having been performed here on 2 February 1601-2. The outside was dressed with stone in 1757.
To spectator’s left the Temple Fountain is shown, approached by steps.Lent by Sir E. Coates.
61WESTMINSTER ABBEY FROM DEAN’S YARD.Plate XXIV.
18¼ by 12¾ in.
A general view of the Abbey from the south-west, Westminster schoolboys and masters in foreground. There is an engraving of this subject.
ByT. Maltonthe Elder (1726-1801).Lent by the City of Birmingham Art Gallery.
62BEAUCHAMP TOWER—TOWER OF LONDON.
Watercolour. 6 by 6¾ in.
Under the mount are the words in pencil “Beauchamp Tower,” and this is probably correct. The building, however, has been much altered since 1798.
Charles Tomkins, painter and aquatint engraver, son of W. Tomkins, A.R.A., did a number of topographical views of London. In 1796 he published a “Tour in the Isle of Wight,” with eighty engravings, and in 1805 “Views of Reading Abbey.”
ByC. Tomkins, 1798 (1757-1810).Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.
63WAPPING.Plate XXV.
21¼ by 16¾ in.
Important houses on river front. Boat building in progress.
ByT. Girtin(1773-1802).Lent by the Leicester Art Gallery.
64EAST INDIA HOUSE FROM THE WEST.Plate XXVI.
Watercolour. 38 by 28 in.
In “Relics of the Hon. East India Company,” illustrations by W. Griggs, letterpress by Sir George Birdwood and W. Foster, aplate from this watercolour is described as follows: “The House occupied by the East India Company in Leadenhall Street, as refaced in 1726. From a coloured drawing by T. Malton, March 1800.”
The East India House, on the south side of Leadenhall Street, is shown on spectator’s right; crowds on the pavement, among them Indians; a coach in the roadway. Opposite are old buildings which escaped the Great Fire.
As already implied by the titles, there were two Thomas Maltons, father and son, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish their work. The father (1726-1801) exhibited London views at the Royal Academy in 1772 and 1774. He taught perspective. His watercolours, as a rule, were what were known as “tinted drawings,” begun in Indian ink. The son (1748-1804) received a premium at the Royal Society of Arts in 1774, and a gold medal at the Royal Academy in 1782. In 1792 he published “A Picturesque Tour through the Cities of London and Westminster containing a hundred aquatints.” He also exhibited London views at the Royal Academy.
ByT. Maltonthe Younger (1748-1804).Lent by the Secretary of State for India.
65THE GENERAL COURT-ROOM, EAST INDIA HOUSE.
Watercolour. 7¾ by 5¾ in.Lent by the Secretary of State for India.
66THE DIRECTORS’ COURT-ROOM, EAST INDIA HOUSE.
Watercolour. 8¾ by 6 in.
Shows the two high chairs here exhibited.Lent by the Secretary of State for India.
67SADLER’S WELLS.Plate XXVII.
Oil picture. 15 by 10¾ in.
Sadler’s Wells, between the New River Head and St. John Street Road, Islington, was so called from a spring of mineral water discovered there by a man named Sadler, who in 1683 opened a music-room connected with it. In course of time rope dancing, tumbling, pantomime, and other entertainments took place there. About 1790 it became a theatre, being still among fields. The NewRiver flowed by, and water was introduced from it to a large tank beneath the floor of the stage—used for naval spectacles, etc.
Here in 1832 T. P. Cooke made his first appearance as William in “Black-Eyed Susan.” The theatre fell into disrepute, but was revived by Phelps who, 1844-62, made it “the home of the legitimate drama.” Closed for some years, it was rebuilt in 1879, and for a short time was under the management of Mrs. Bateman. This picture agrees with the view of the old house in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.”
ByR. C. Andrews, 1792.Lent by the Hon. Lady Lyttelton.
68GREEN PARK, 1760.Plate XXVIII.
Oil picture. 50 by 31 in.
In the foreground is a man seated on a rail, with what looks like a plan or drawing in his left hand. He turns to the spectator and, with his right, points in the direction of Spencer House, the park front of which still remains unaltered. This figure, in all likelihood, represents John Vardy, the architect who designed it. The pond is wrongly named Rosamond’s Pond on the frame. It is mentioned in the Calendar of Treasury Papers, 9 June 1725, as a “canal or basin lately made over against Devonshire House,” and was soon afterwards converted into a reservoir of Chelsea Waterworks. A walk by it, planted with trees, was called the Queen’s Walk. This reservoir was enlarged in 1729, and filled up in 1856. The Green Park Rosamond’s Pond was in the old bed of the Tyburn, much farther west. A more famous Rosamond’s Pond, in St. James’s Park, disappeared 1770. All three are marked on Rocque’s map of 1746. The figures scattered about the foreground and reflected in the water show very well the costume of the period. In the distance is Buckingham House (seeNo. 48).