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Design for Greenwich

Maker

John James (artist)
1672-1746

Formerly attributed to
Thomas Ripley (artist)
1683-1758

Title

Date of Production

1735

Medium

pen and grey ink on two sheets of laid paper joined together, with grey ink framing lines, executed using a ruler and compass; the sheet of paper used on the right is significantly more foxed than the other sheet

Dimensions

Height: 47.1 cm
Width: 91.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1961.XX.2.1

Mode of Acquisition

Geoffrey F. Webb, gift, 1960

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This scale drawing was made in order to plan the Queen Mary Block of the Sailors' Hospital at Greenwich. The block was planned to complement the existing King William Block built in 1708. This drawing was probably based on designs for the earlier block, though it could have been taken from the building itself.

Provenance

John Edmund Gardner (1819-1899); by descent to his son; purchased from him en bloc by Major Sir Edward Coates (1853-1921), 1910; his estate sale, Sotheby's (London), 1-5 May 1924, probably lot 2232 (18 items); purchased there by B.T. Batsford (London) (£5.5 for all 18); purchased there by Professor Geoffrey Webb (1898-1970), circa 1927-28; Webb Gift 1960 Provenance detailed by Kerry Downes in the file for D.1961.XX.2.1.

Exhibition History

Architectural Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/07/1961-01/10/1961

Literature

Architectural Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1961
cat. no. 13

Downes, Kerry, Hawksmoor, 1959

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Left sheet: left centre: “PORTAL & BRIDGES”; Countermark: centre: Strasburg lily above “GR”; Right sheet: centre: “PORTAL” [not cut off – it is not followed by any words] (Portal was a papermarker who founded his mill in Hampshire in 1712; his heirs eventually partnered with a cousin named Bridges].

Inscription: All Recto, brown ink, artist’s hand: throughout the drawing are numerous dimensions; upper left, written vertically: “Architrave to Nitch-herd [?] the Same – but not carved”; lower left, written vertically: “Pilaster” and added after in graphite, partly faded: “not diminish[…]”; written at upper right below a window and again lower right, vertically: “plain”; lower centre, below a scale running from “5” to “100 Feet”, titled: “South Front of Queen Mary’s Building._”. Verso: lower right, red-brown ink: “South Front of Queen Mary’s Building_”.

Collector's mark: none.

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