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Drawing
Chambers, William - Enlarge image
Drawing
- Date:
18th century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Chambers, William (Sir), born 1723 - died 1796 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink, pencil, ink wash and watercolour
- Museum number:
3341
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E, case A, shelf 229, box A
Plan of the mausoleum to the Prince of Wales, indicating treatment of floor tiles by leading architect and designer Sir William Chambers (1723-1796). The mausoleum was not built. There were three known projects for this building. All three drawings borrow both from the architecture of ancient Rome and that of Chambers’s architectural circle in Italy including M.A. Challe, L.J. le Lorrain, N.A. Jardin and especially Jean Laurent Legeay. The interior has elements of the Pantheon, and the exterior borrows from the tomb of Cecilia Metella. Chambers was employed at Kew by the Dowager Princess from 1757 to completely remodel the gardens. Between that date and 1763, Chambers erected twenty-five buildings and other features at Kew, in addition to designing unbuilt projects like the monument to the British poets.
Chambers was born in Sweden and died in London. He travelled widely, visiting China, and studied architecture at the Ecole des Arts, Paris, from 1749 and in Italy from 1750 to 1755. Many of his drawings from this period are contained in his important 'Franco-Italian' album, held in the V&A. Chambers moved to London in 1755 and published his influential Treatise on Civil Architecture in 1759. Chambers demonstrated the breadth of his style in buildings such as Gower (later Carrington) House and Melbourne House, London, in such country houses as Duddingston, Scotland, and in the garden architecture he designed for Wilton House, Wiltshire, and at Kew Gardens. He became head of government building in 1782, and in this capacity built Somerset House, London.
