Joseph Nash specialised in architectural views of well-known country houses. This one depicts Montacute House in Somerset, built in 1588 for Sir Edward Phelips, Speaker of the House of Commons. Nash intended to reproduce many of his watercolours himself as prints. His illustrated book The Mansions of England in the Olden Time was published between 1839 and 1849. It was immensely popular. Such books were the 19th century equivalent of what today we would call a 'coffee-table' book, although they usually contained more research and scholarship. Montacute House, built for Sir Edward Phelips around 1600, was a novel choice of subject. During the previous twenty years, countless views of another famous house, Haddon Hall, had been exhibited. This is one of the most spectacular original examples of an 'Exhibition' frame, emulating the style of the Elizabethan interior depicted in the watercolour.