From 1751 until 1775 Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke, conducted his Grand Tour and may have met Chambers in Italy. He employed Chambers on a variety of works in both park and house at Wilton and on his London home from 1757. These included the construction of the Casino, a wooden tennis court, the fitting out of a Library, a greenhouse, proposals for a small 'sawmill' bridge and the rebuilding of a rock bridge as a rustic cascade with twin arches. Of the two projects for which the V&A has drawings, the Casino still exists and has been restored but the Rock Bridge and cascade have been demolished.

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.