Architectural Drawing
18th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink with pencil |
| Brief description | Elevation of the centre window on the first floor of the Piccadilly façade of Melbourne House; William Chambers. |
| Physical description | Elevation of the centre window on the first floor of the Piccadilly façade of Melbourne House, Westminster for the 1st Lord Melbourne. This design, in an office hand, shows the most complex surround in a hierarchical system that works both vertically and horizontally. Chambers's inscription describes how the window surrounds become plainer the further they are from the centre. To the right, drawn later in pencil, is a profile of a console. The window surrounds on the floor above are even plainer, lacking even the window heads of the plainest below, and those on the ground floor have round heads of brick with a single keystone. (Scale: 5/8 in. to I ft). |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Object history | Bought from E. Parsons, 1869 |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | 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. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | 7074:1 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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