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Design for Greenwich

Maker

Studio of
(artist)
1632-1723

Title

Date of Production

after 1711

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash on four sheets of laid paper joined together, with graphite framing lines on the right and left edges; executed using a ruler and compass

Dimensions

Height: 45.9 cm
Width: 89.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1961.XX.2.5

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

The draughtsman of this sheet may have been John James; there is an important distinction here between the role of the architect as the designer of the building, and the draughtsman who actually executed drawings such as this. This drawing contains a range of different conventions of architectural drawing, used both to suggest recession and to distinguish existing buildings (the Queens' House to the left and the Great Hall with its dome) from a proposed one (the King Charles Block to the right). The limited size of available sheets of paper necessitated the joining together of more than one sheet to produce a drawing this size.

Notes

This depicts the North elevation of the hospital, with the Queen's House, the end of the Painted Hall and King Charles Block. Probably made after 1711, when the decision was taken to duplicate the end pavilion of King Charles Block as shown. The drawing is, however, a compilation from earlier ones, since by 1711 the lower windows of the Queen's House had been lengthened, while the dome of the Painted Hall and the vestibule below it are inaccurately shown, with features (e.g. the upper porch seen in silhouette) of designs discarded before 1702. The tall attic and arch between the end pavilions were not built in accordance with this design, which is possibly by John James.

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. 17

Downes, Kerry, Hawksmoor, 1959

Inscriptions

Watermark: Recto, repeated at centre and right centre: a cross above “IHS / IVILLEDARY” (mark matches Heawood 2971, though our chain lines are 2 mm wider – London 1766?).

Inscription: Recto: lower centre edge, brown ink: “One half of the Part fronting the North_ Elevation of Greenwich Hospital showing King Charles’s [the ‘C’ written over a ‘T’] Building-”. Verso: lower centre, red-brown ink: “Elevation of the North Front of Greenwich Hospital showing the Elevation / of King Charles’s_ Building [paraphe]”.

Collector's mark: none.

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