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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, pencil and blue wash.
Brief description
Plan of a ceiling. William Chambers.
Physical description
Plan of a ceiling. The ceiling, which is for a rectangular room, is centred on a plain circular feature; only part of the ceiling is shown. The rest of the ceiling is covered in interlocking circles. Where they cross are stars, and in the spaces where four circles touch are suns with smiling faces. Within the circles are small stars.
Dimensions
  • Height: 276mm
  • Width: 220mm
Style
Object history
Registered in the Museum in 1857.
Subjects 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.
Bibliographic reference
Snodin Catalogue Number: 803
Collection
Accession number
2216:6

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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