The Drawing room at 3, The Close, Winchester thumbnail 1
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The Drawing room at 3, The Close, Winchester

Watercolour Drawing
ca. 1900 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
During the 19th century there was a fashion amongst some proud owners of particularly elaborate decorative schemes in rooms or houses to commission artists to record them in watercolours and drawings.

Subjects Depicted
This is one of four drawings recording the interiors of the house of Canon A.S. Valpy and his wife in a late 17th-century house in the Cathedral close at Winchester. The drawing room is an early example of the taste for 'decorating with antiques' which is still current today. Real and reproduction Georgian furniture is mixed with 'Art Furniture' (including an Indian table in a North African/Islamic style of the type sold at Liberty's. A similar table is displayed in the British Galleries - museum no. E.222-1955) and easy chairs (probably mid-Victorian) disguised under chintz covers, all set on a splendid rug. Also a reflection of the same taste for the 18th century is the large collection of ceramics, on open display and in neo-rococo cabinets.

People
Very little is known about the artist, except that she lived in Winchester when these watercolours were painted and normally specialised in architectural subjects.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Drawing room at 3, The Close, Winchester (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on paper
Brief description
Beatrice Olive Corfe. Watercolour depicting the Drawing Room at No. 3, The Close, Winchester
Physical description
One of four drawings recording the interiors of the house of Canon A.S. Valpy and his wife in the late seventeenth century in Winchester. The drawing room here shows the taste for decorating with antiques, using real and reproduction Georgian furniture mixed with 'Art Furniture'.
Dimensions
  • Height: 35cm
  • Width: 49.7cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 15/08/2000 by PaperCons Estimated size previously given as 38.1x53.3
Gallery label
British Galleries: This watercolour shows the popularity of mixing authentic and reproduction 18th-century furniture with fashionable contemporary furniture like the upright piano and the small Indian table. The light colours and airy atmosphere were a marked shift from the dark tones popular a few years earlier. Ceramics formed an important element in the decoration of such rooms.(27/03/2003)
Credit line
Given by Mrs Henry G. Dakyns
Object history
By Beatrice Olive Corfe (about 1864-1947), probably painted in Winchester, Hampshire
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
During the 19th century there was a fashion amongst some proud owners of particularly elaborate decorative schemes in rooms or houses to commission artists to record them in watercolours and drawings.

Subjects Depicted
This is one of four drawings recording the interiors of the house of Canon A.S. Valpy and his wife in a late 17th-century house in the Cathedral close at Winchester. The drawing room is an early example of the taste for 'decorating with antiques' which is still current today. Real and reproduction Georgian furniture is mixed with 'Art Furniture' (including an Indian table in a North African/Islamic style of the type sold at Liberty's. A similar table is displayed in the British Galleries - museum no. E.222-1955) and easy chairs (probably mid-Victorian) disguised under chintz covers, all set on a splendid rug. Also a reflection of the same taste for the 18th century is the large collection of ceramics, on open display and in neo-rococo cabinets.

People
Very little is known about the artist, except that she lived in Winchester when these watercolours were painted and normally specialised in architectural subjects.
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO, 1963
Collection
Accession number
E.222-1955

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
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