Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 54

The Designs of Inigo Jones and others

Etching
1743 (first published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
This print by Paul Fourdrinier combines two printmaking techniques - etching and engraving. Both involved creating a pattern of grooves to hold ink in a metal printing plate. The image on the printing plate was the reverse of the final image. The etched lines were made using acid, while the engraved lines were scored by means of a sharp tool called a burin. The grooves were then filled with ink and the image was transferred onto a blank sheet of paper.

Place
Houghton Hall is a magnificent country house in Norfolk. It was built by Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister, in the 1720s and early 1730s.

Subject Depicted
Another name for the Venetian window is the 'Serlian motif'. This derives from the fact that it was first illustrated by the Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio in his book Architettura of 1537. The spiral scrolls at the top of the columns are called volutes. They are characteristic of the Ionic order, one of the four orders (or sets of rules) of classical architecture.

William Kent has used a variety of decorative details elsewhere in the design, including female masks, hanging strings of fruits and flowers called festoons, scrolling leaves and formalised flower motifs called rosettes. The overmantel (the part of the chimney-piece above the mantelpiece) is topped with a broken pediment. This is a triangular feature that does not meet at the top.

Use
Isaac Ware's book on Houghton Hall was published only a few years after the house was finished. It was a forerunner of the magazines available today, featuring the homes of the rich and famous.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • The Designs of Inigo Jones and others (suite title)
  • The Designs of Inigo Jones and others (series title)
Materials and techniques
Etching and engraving, ink on paper
Brief description
William Kent (after), plate 38 from 'The Designs of Inigo Jones and others', London 1743.
Physical description
Print
Dimensions
  • Paper height: 12cm
  • Paper width: 19cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 06/05/1999 by KN
Gallery label
British Galleries: The Venetian window was a favourite Palladian motif. It was composed of a central, semi-circular arch with flat-topped openings on either side. In the dining room at Houghton, two such arches were designed to lead to serving areas. By the time that the dining room was built, the design had been changed.(27/03/2003)
Object history
Plate 38 from Isaac Ware, 'The Designs of Inigo Jones and others'Designed by William Kent (born in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, 1685, died in London, 1748); drawn and published in London by Isaac Ware (born in 1704, died in London, 1766); etched by Paul Fourdrinier (active 1720-1758)
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
This print by Paul Fourdrinier combines two printmaking techniques - etching and engraving. Both involved creating a pattern of grooves to hold ink in a metal printing plate. The image on the printing plate was the reverse of the final image. The etched lines were made using acid, while the engraved lines were scored by means of a sharp tool called a burin. The grooves were then filled with ink and the image was transferred onto a blank sheet of paper.

Place
Houghton Hall is a magnificent country house in Norfolk. It was built by Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister, in the 1720s and early 1730s.

Subject Depicted
Another name for the Venetian window is the 'Serlian motif'. This derives from the fact that it was first illustrated by the Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio in his book Architettura of 1537. The spiral scrolls at the top of the columns are called volutes. They are characteristic of the Ionic order, one of the four orders (or sets of rules) of classical architecture.

William Kent has used a variety of decorative details elsewhere in the design, including female masks, hanging strings of fruits and flowers called festoons, scrolling leaves and formalised flower motifs called rosettes. The overmantel (the part of the chimney-piece above the mantelpiece) is topped with a broken pediment. This is a triangular feature that does not meet at the top.

Use
Isaac Ware's book on Houghton Hall was published only a few years after the house was finished. It was a forerunner of the magazines available today, featuring the homes of the rich and famous.
Bibliographic reference
(Berlin I) Berlin Staatliche Museen, Katalog der Ornamentstich-Sammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek Berlin, Berlin and Leipzig, 1936-39, 2274.
Collection
Accession number
20603:5

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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