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Architectural drawing
Sir William Chambers, born 1723 - died 1796 - Enlarge image
Architectural drawing
- Place of origin:
London (probably, made)
- Date:
18th century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Sir William Chambers, born 1723 - died 1796 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink, pencil and grey and sepia washes
- Museum number:
7074:4
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E, case A, shelf 229
Measured drawing of a window surround in the Cortile of the Valmarano at Vicenza by leading architect and designer Sir William Chambers (1723-1796). The Palazzo Valmarana was rebuilt for Leonardo Valmarana by Andrea Palladio 1565-1566. This window is one of those above the colonnade of the courtyard, at the top of the giant order which adorns the lower two floors. In designing the façade to the courtyard Palladio was influenced by the façade of Baldassare Peruzzi’s Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, a building Chambers also studied and drew (see cats.298 and 547-548). The sheet has been trimmed along the top edge leaving a fragment of an inscription, and along the right-hand edge removing the outer part of the window surround. Chambers has included profiles of the mouldings on this elevation.
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.
