Transcriber’s Note:

Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

• Plate XLI (No.94) is attributed to Canaletto in the Index and to Samuel Scott in the text and caption.
• Plate XLII (No. 95) is attributed to Samuel Scott in the text and caption, and to Nattes in the Index.
• “established 27 Charles II” is a possible misprint.
• “notoriety as forger” should possibly be “notoriety as a forger”.
• Trevithic and Trevithick appear to refer to the same person.
• “Albany” is possibly italicized in error.
• Hendrik and Hendrick (Danckerts) appear to be alternate spellings of the same name.

Burlington Fine Arts Club

CATALOGUE OF A COLLECTION
OF
EARLY DRAWINGS AND
PICTURES OF
LONDON
WITH SOME CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE

LONDON
PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB
1920

LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CHISWICK PRESS
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE

COMMITTEE FOR THIS EXHIBITION

• OLIVER BRACKETT, ESQ.
• MAJOR SIR EDWARD COATES, BART., M.P.
• CAMPBELL DODGSON, ESQ., C.B.E.
• SIR WILLIAM LAWRENCE, BART.
• PHILIP NORMAN, ESQ., LL.D.
• EMERY WALKER, ESQ., F.S.A.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

• HIS MAJESTY THE KING.
• Colin Agnew, Esq.
• *The Lord Aldenham.
• *A. Acland Allen, Esq., M.P.
• Herbert Allen, Esq.
• The Governor of the Bank of England.
• The Earl of Berkeley.
• The Committee of the City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
• *The Earl Brownlow, P.C.
• The Worshipful Company of Carpenters.
• The Master of the Charterhouse.
• Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods.
• The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers.
• Major Sir Edward Coates, Bt., M.P.
• *E. H. Coles, Esq.
• The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers.
• The Committee of the Foundling Hospital.
• *The Rev. Lewis Gilbertson.
• *Thomas Girtin, Esq.
• *E. C. Grenfell, Esq.
• The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.
• J. P. Heseltine, Esq.
• R. K. Hodgson, Esq.
• *C. H. St. John Hornby, Esq.
• Mary, Countess of Ilchester.
• *The Earl of Ilchester.
• The Secretary of State for India.
• The Committee of the Borough of Leicester Museum and Art Gallery.
• *H. C. Levis, Esq.
• *R. W. Lloyd, Esq.
• The Hon. Lady Lyttelton.
• The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors.
• *Philip Norman, Esq., LL.D.
• *Henry Oppenheimer, Esq.
• Sir Walter Prideaux.
• The Treasurer and Almoners of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
• *The Marquess of Sligo.
• *A. Murray Smith, Esq.
• Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge.
• The Earl Spencer, K.G., G.C.V.O.
• The Worshipful Company of Stationers.
• The Worshipful Company of Watermen and Lightermen.
• *F. A. White, Esq.
• Sir Harry Wilson, K.C.M.G.

* Contributors whose names are marked thus are Members of the Club.

LIST OF PLATES

PREFACE

At this great time in the nation’s history, when changes moral and material are following each other with such speed that we “know not what a day may bring forth,” it seems all the more incumbent on us while we live in the present not to forget the past. Accordingly, the Committee felt that pictures and drawings of the London of our ancestors would have exceptional interest, and the present exhibition is the result.

The space at our command being limited, we can only show a tithe of the material still in existence, but, through the kindness of owners, many fine works are on our walls, with others which, although as regards craftsmanship they have only average merit, are valuable as showing noteworthy scenes and buildings of a former day. Among the number that have not been exhibited before we would mention the drawings from Windsor which His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to lend, also those belonging to Sir Edward Coates—but a trifling instalment of his unique collection.

By way of preface a few words on old London views may not be thought superfluous. In manuscripts and early printed books pictures or illustrations which purported to represent London were now and then produced, but the artists did not attempt to imitate nature with precision, their feeling for decorative effect being paramount. Indeed, in R. Pynson’s edition of the “Cronycle of Englonde” (1510), what is probably the earliest engraved view which has any claim to represent London, shows no pretence of accuracy. With an effort of faith we may believe that we are looking at representations of old St. Paul’s, the Tower, London Bridge, Ludgate, and the church of the Black Friars, but the design is symbolic rather than imitative.

Illuminations in manuscripts of the previous century in one or two instances give us clearer topographical hints. A volume of the English poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans, among the royal manuscripts at the British Museum, shows the duke, who was captured at the battle of Agincourt, as a prisoner in the Tower of London, where he was kept for many years. The river side of the keep has been opened, and he appears seated within. Portions of the Tower and old London Bridge with its chapel are well portrayed, while other buildings, although incorrectly placed, add a little to our knowledge. Another of the royal manuscripts in the British Museum shows Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims starting on their journey, with London in the background, the most interesting feature of this topographically being the old city wall, with its bastions at regular intervals. Something more may be learnt from the engraving (after a picture at Cowdray, destroyed by fire long ago) of the procession of Edward VI through London in 1547. The artist, however, is still not imitating nature directly, but introduces conventional renderings of the more important buildings with which he was familiar, without troubling himself much about their relative positions.

Two fine representations of Tudor London deserve special mention. The first of them as regards time is a view of London, not from Suffolk House as is generally supposed, but from the tower of the church of St. George the Martyr, Southwark, with Suffolk House, or part of it, in the foreground. It is a pen drawing, ten feet long or more, and is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Although the various important buildings are brought somewhat together in order to include them all, this view has a look of nature, the style also being free and skilful. The artist is Anthonie Van den Wyngaerde, now generally held to have been a Fleming in the train of Philip II. The second Tudor view, which is at Hatfield House and belongs to the Marquess of Salisbury, is an oil picture, also by a Flemish artist, Joris Hoefnagel. It was rather poorly described by George Corner in a paper read before members of the Surrey Archaeological Society in 1858, and was in the Tudor Exhibition at the New Gallery in 1890, being then called Horsleydown Fair; but in all probability it represents a marriage fête by the old church of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, which has since been rebuilt excepting the lower part of the mediaeval tower. The ground between the church and the river is portrayed with much detail, and the scene is full of life and incident. The Tower of London appears in the distance. Hoefnagel, born at Antwerp, was responsible for many beautiful paintings, mostly of the miniature kind, and drew plans for Braun and Hogenberg’s “Civitates Orbis Terrarum,” published at Cologne in 1572, among them that representing London. On this perhaps the plan ascribed to Agas was based; the alternative being that they both owe their origin in some degree to a still earlier plan, all trace of which has disappeared.

In the seventeenth century pictures of London subjects begin to be fairly plentiful. Among early ones the curious diptych of old St. Paul’s, dating from the time of James I and belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, may be mentioned. Although artless and entirely lacking in perspective, it contains details which are not to be found elsewhere, and there is a quaint London view at the back. Later in that century a series of accurate etchings by Hollar throw much light on the London of his day. About the same time also a few large and realistic pictures of London were painted, of which we are able to show two or three examples.

Soon after 1720 the charm of London scenes came to be more generally recognized, and from then onwards her river, her parks, her streets and public buildings, have been depicted times innumerable, and by some of our most famous artists. Until the latter part of the eighteenth century oil pictures of scenes on the Thames were plentiful, Samuel Scott, who was also a marine painter, setting the example. He was a friend of Hogarth, and together they illustrated the account of that frolicsome jaunt to the Isle of Sheppey and back in 1732, which is now in the British Museum. Scott, who was latterly much influenced by Canaletto, founded more or less of a school, some of the pictures usually ascribed to him being perhaps by his followers. Canaletto himself paid us a prolonged visit, and several of his fine London drawings are on our walls. There is also evidence that he designed two oil pictures here exhibited (Nos. 69 and 94), which were previously attributed to Scott. As time went on water-colours by the Sandbys and others gradually came into vogue. Many years before the date to which this exhibition is confined, our predecessors began to take an interest not only in river scenes and great public buildings, but in humbler subjects, such as old houses, and picturesque nooks and corners threatened with destruction. Pennant’s “London,” of which there are several splendidly extra illustrated copies, helped to encourage these varied tastes, so did Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata,” to name only one later publication, and competent draughtsmen and engravers got something like permanent employment on work of this kind.

We will now say a few words about the great private collections of London topographical prints, drawings, maps and plans, formed many years ago, chiefly of material which comes within the period to which we are limited. Three of these collections are specially famous, and they were brought together by busy men who died within living memory. These were Frederick Crace, to whom we owe the many portfolios catalogued under his name in the Print Room of the British Museum; James Holbert Wilson, whose collection has unfortunately been dispersed, and John Edmund Gardner. It is his amazing collection, far larger than all the rest put together, which has been saved for our interest and instruction by Sir Edward Coates, and of which a few examples are here shown. The late Mr. Gardner who formed it, began when little more than a boy, by the purchase for five guineas of an extra illustrated Pennant, and he continued buying steadily throughout a long life. He passed away December 29th, 1899, at the ripe age of eighty-two, having occupied himself with his beloved portfolios on that very day. Among his more important purchases were almost all the original drawings, about two hundred in number, made for the “Londina Illustrata,” and twenty-eight folio volumes of sketches by John Carter. Not very many years ago the late J. P. Emslie, who, with C. J. Richardson and others, carried on the work of previous generations, told the present writer that he had just completed his thousandth drawing for the Gardner collection.

To conclude. It is now somewhat the habit to speak slightingly of topographical pictures and drawings, as if there were something unworthy in copying with correctness the appearance of an interesting building or an attractive river or street scene. Such work is supposed to be outside the region of art, as giving no play to the imagination. But surely “the originality of a subject is in its treatment.” A man without a touch of the true spirit may paint the most ideal scene and leave us cold. On the other hand, while many artists of no exceptional talent, by their honest efforts have left topographical records for which we are thankful, almost all our great landscape painters have deigned now and then to depict London, and for those in sympathy with them they still give something of the thrill of pleasure which they themselves felt when they put their whole souls into their work.

PHILIP NORMAN.

CATALOGUE

The numbering of the Drawings and Pictures begins on the Entrance Door, and is continued to the left.

The measurements are in inches (the width preceding the height) and do not include the frame or mount.

The Furniture, etc., is described after the Pictures.

The Committee accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the attributions in the Catalogue.

1 [OLD LONDON BRIDGE.] Plate I.

Watercolour. 17 by 10 in.

The bridge shortly before its removal. From a point on the Surrey side of the river, nearly opposite to old Fishmongers’ Hall.

G. Yates, watercolour painter, worked in London on topographical subjects about 1825-37; in the Crace catalogue he is called Major Yates.

By G. Yates, 1826. Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.

2 AUSTIN FRIARS CHURCH FROM THE NORTH-WEST.

Watercolour. 7¾ by 7½ in.

The priory of the Augustine Friars in London was founded a.d. 1253, and the church was rebuilt about a century afterwards. In 1550 the nave was made over to the Dutch community in London, and it has been in their hands ever since. The choir and steeple were destroyed by the then Marquess of Winchester at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In 1862 what remained of the church was very much injured by fire, the roof and all the fittings being burnt. It was “restored” at a cost of about £12,000.

The interest of this drawing is due to the fact that it shows the church, with its decorated tracery and staircase turret, before the disastrous fire. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

3 [BOLINGBROKE HOUSE, BATTERSEA.] Plate II.

Watercolour. 7 by 4¾ in.

The St. John family became Lords of the Manor of Battersea in the early part of the seventeenth century. Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke, retired to the manor-house when nearing the end of his career, and died there in 1751. In 1763 the manor was sold to Lord Spencer, and much of the house is said to have been pulled down not long afterwards. The remainder was enclosed in ground attached to a mill built about 1794, and it stands in the premises of the existing flour mill near the parish church, but is now dilapidated.

This old drawing represents the house much as it was a few years ago. It contained a panelled room, a good staircase, and remains of a seventeenth-century plaster ceiling still there in 1920. Lent by Mr. P. Norman.

4 [OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.] Plate III.

Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 9 in.

View of the bridge and of Westminster from mid-stream. The western towers of Westminster Abbey, as shown, were completed in 1739. Among prominent buildings are Westminster Hall, St. Stephen’s Chapel, and the Church of St. John the Evangelist with its four queer towers finished in 1728. In the distance is Lambeth Palace. Old Westminster Bridge, designed by the Swiss architect C. Labelye, was begun in 1738-9 and opened 18 November 1750.

Antonio Canale, the Venetian painter, usually called Canaletto, visited England in 1746, and remained about two years. During that time he produced many pictures and drawings, chiefly of London scenes. An inscription on the back of a picture of the Rotunda at Ranelagh (Nat. Gal. Cat. 1906, No. 1429) has been thought to prove that he was here in 1754.

By Canaletto, c. 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.

5 VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.

Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 7¾ in.

By Canaletto, c. 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.

6 [VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM WESTMINSTER.] Plate IV.

Pen drawing. 15½ by 5¼ in.

Rare example of Hollar’s pen-work, unfinished. The point of view is about that of the “King’s Bridge,” Westminster. In the distance old St. Paul’s is faintly pencilled. Signature on a plank to the left.

Wenceslaus Hollar, born at Prague, was brought to England by the Earl of Arundel in 1637, and worked under his patronage for years. In the Civil War he served under the Marquess of Winchester, and was taken prisoner at Basing House, but escaped to Antwerp. He afterwards returned, was appointed designer to the King, and spent the rest of his life here with an interval when he was sent by Charles II to Tangiers. A most industrious artist, we owe to him many fine etchings of London; died in poverty.

By W. Hollar (1607-1677). Lent by H.M. the King.

7 VIEW UP RIVER FROM GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.

Pen and wash. 19 by 8½ in.

Westminster Abbey, Bridge, and Hall are conspicuous, so is the Banqueting House, Whitehall.

By Canaletto, c. 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.

8 [WESTMINSTER BRIDGE AND ABBEY.] Plate V.

Pen and wash. 19 by 10½ in.

View from Surrey side; a fête of some kind is in progress; the river crowded with sailing boats and barges and wherries all proceeding up stream. The chief Westminster buildings are delineated.

By Canaletto, c. 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.

9 [WESTMINSTER ABBEY, SOUTH VIEW FROM RIVER.] Plate VI.

Pen and watercolour. 5¼ by 3 in.

A choice drawing delicately tinted, shows Henry VIIth’s Chapel and the Chapter-house. The tower to the left of the latter must be the King’s Jewel-house. The narrow strip to extreme left, intended perhaps to represent part of a turret of Lambeth Palace, is a later addition joined on.

By W. Hollar (1607-1677). Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.

10 VIEW FROM AN ARCHWAY OF WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 11½ in.

Looking down stream, shows the riverside from York Water-tower to St. Paul’s.

By Canaletto, c. 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.

11 [VIEW UP RIVER TO WESTMINSTER.] Plate VII.

Wash and pen drawing. 28¼ by 15¼ in.

On spectator’s right the first important object is York Water-gate still standing at the end of Buckingham Street, Strand, probably designed by Inigo Jones in 1626, and executed by Nicholas Stone. (The design is claimed for the latter in his Account Book.) Behind it is the house where Samuel Pepys lived with Hewer. No. 14 Buckingham Street is on the site. Next is York Water-tower, a slender wooden building about seventy feet high, part of the waterworks established 27 Charles II to supply the West End with Thames water. They were burnt down and re-erected in 1690. Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall are prominent. Westminster Bridge is unfinished. Lambeth Palace appears in the distance to spectator’s left. A drawing apparently copied from this is in the print room of the British Museum.

By Canaletto, c. 1746 (1697-1768). Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.

12 [OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.] Plate VIII.

Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 11½ in.

This view appears to be taken from the Westminster side. According to Labelye’s “Description,” published in 1751, the bridge was almost finished in the spring of 1747, but soon afterwards a pier settled badly. The two adjoining arches were thus wrecked and had to be supported by wooden framework, the spandrels, balustrades, etc., being removed. The effects of this accident are here shown; they delayed the opening for years.

By Canaletto, 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.

13 LAMBETH PALACE GATE-HOUSE, AND PARISH CHURCH.

Watercolour. 7¼ by 5¼ in.

The Palace cannot be seen; in the distance is Westminster Bridge.

The Gate-house, of red brick, with stone archway and quoins, was built in the time of Archbishop Morton who died in 1500. The fifteenth-century church of St. Mary, Lambeth, after being often altered and repaired, was almost entirely rebuilt in 1850-52.

John Varley, born in 1778, exhibited at the Royal Academy and in 1804 became a foundation member of the Old Watercolour Society. Many of his earlier subjects are taken from the banks of the Thames.

By J. Varley (1778-1842). Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.

14 [PIAZZA, COVENT GARDEN.] Plate IX.

Watercolour. 12 by 10¾ in.

A piece of the Piazza designed by Inigo Jones is here shown.

The letters “PS” are stamped on the lower left-hand corner of the drawing, a proof that it was in the collection of Paul Sandby, but according to the pencil note beneath it was by Thomas Sandby. Each brother drew subjects of this character. They were accomplished artists, and foundation members of the Royal Academy. Thomas was the first R.A. Professor of Architecture. Paul is believed to have been the first in this country who practised the art of aquatint.

By T. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798). Lent by H.M. the King.

15 CHURCH OF ST. DUNSTAN-IN-THE-EAST DURING RECONSTRUCTION.

Pen and wash drawing. 16½ by 17½ in.

After the Great Fire Wren rebuilt the church in his usual style excepting the tower, which is a bold attempt at Gothic with a spire on four flying buttresses. In 1817, the body of the church having become dilapidated, it was resolved to take it down and rebuild it to match the tower. The first stone of the new structure was laid on 26 November of that year. If the date under this drawing be correct, the work must have proceeded slowly. The roof is off, but Wren’s renaissance arches still remain.

Date 1819. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

16 [OLD SOMERSET HOUSE AND GARDEN.] Plate X.

Watercolour. 29½ by 20¼ in.

Old Somerset House was built by the Protector, brother of Jane Seymour and maternal uncle of Edward VI, being begun soon after the death of Henry VIII. During a portion of Mary’s reign it was assigned to her sister Elizabeth. James I granted it to his Queen, Anne of Denmark. Charles handed it over to his Queen, Henrietta Maria, and caused a chapel for Roman Catholics to be added to the building. This was designed by Inigo Jones and consecrated in 1635, and he did other work there. A picture at Dulwich, engraved for Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata,” shows it before his chapel and alterations destroyed the uniform character of the building. It can hardly be from nature, as the artist was Cornelis Bol, who also portrayed the Great Fire. The present view must have been painted shortly before its demolition in 1775. An arcaded portion designed by Inigo Jones, stands out prominently.

By T. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798). Lent by H.M. the King.

17 OLD MANSION IN LEADENHALL STREET.

Watercolour. 12½ by 18 in.

To spectator’s right, above nearer buildings, is the spire of St. Peter’s Cornhill, and behind it the tower of St. Michael’s, Cornhill.

If, as noted in pencil, this rather ornate structure was pulled down “for the East India House,” it must have been after the rebuilding of the latter from Jupp’s design, for it is shown in the large watercolour by T. Malton ([No. 77]) as immediately west of that building.

About 1800 Lent by Sir E. Coates.

18 WESTMINSTER FROM THE GARDEN OF OLD SOMERSET HOUSE.

Watercolour. 14¼ by 10½ in.

This drawing, like [No. 14], is stamped with the initials “PS.” It was therefore in the collection of Paul Sandby, and below it, on mount, is the following inscription (not contemporary), “Drawn by T Sandby 1752.”

By T. Sandby, R.A. (1721-1798). Lent by H.M. the King.

19 [OLD LONDON BRIDGE FROM BILLINGSGATE.] Plate XI.

Watercolour. 21¼ by 12½ in.

Shows, on the Surrey side of the river, St. Olave’s Church, Tooley Street, lately closed, a neighbouring shot tower destroyed in a fire of 1843, and St. Saviour’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral.

By G. Yates, 1828. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

20 OLD LONDON BRIDGE FROM THE WEST.

Watercolour. 22 by 12½ in.

The bridge as altered when the houses on it were pulled down soon after the middle of the eighteenth century. The wide arch was then formed by the removal of a pier, two arches being thrown into one, which nearly caused the collapse of the fabric. An archaic steamer has a greyhound painted on its paddle-box.

By G. Yates, 1830. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

21 BARN ELMS, 1793.

Watercolour. 12 by 9½ in.

Scene by the river near Barnes. In the distance are the towers of Fulham Church and of Putney Church at each end of old Putney Bridge.

Barn Elms, east of what was the village of Barnes and extending to the river, doubtless derived its second name from the trees that abounded there. The mansion called Barn Elms, which is the chief building and has considerable grounds attached to it, is now occupied by the Ranelagh Club, which moved there from Ranelagh House, Fulham (not to be confused with Ranelagh, Chelsea), in 1884. At Barn Elms, Jacob Tonson, the famous publisher, secretary of the Kitcat Club, built a gallery for the reception of portraits of the members.

The painting, signed “EE,” is by Edward Edwards, elected A.R.A. in 1771, and made Professor of Perspective in 1788.

By E. Edwards, A.R.A. (1738-1806). Lent by Sir H. Wilson.

22 THE MONUMENT FROM FISH STREET HILL.

Watercolour on etched outline. 9 by 12 in.

The Monument, designed by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London, was finished in 1677. Beyond it is shown the steeple of the church of St. Magnus, also designed by Wren; beyond that again, part of the roadway of old London Bridge. After the removal of the houses on the bridge, its east path was continued along a passage then formed through the church tower. Fish Street Hill is a continuation of Gracechurch Street to the south, and was the main thoroughfare to old London Bridge.

The painting is unsigned and undated: it belongs perhaps to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

23 [CAMP NEAR SERPENTINE, HYDE PARK, 1780.] Plate XII.

Watercolour. 19 by 10 in.

Tents near the water. In the foreground a group of figures. To the left a dog is harnessed to a barrow, a man pushing behind.

Paul Sandby published “Views in the Encampments in the Parks,” 1780, for which series this was probably done.

By P. Sandby, R.A., 1780 (1725-1809). Lent by H.M. the King.

24 OPERA HOUSE, HAYMARKET.

Watercolour. 10½ by 7¾ in.

The first theatre on this site (designed by Sir John Vanbrugh) was opened in 1705 and burnt down in 1789. The second building, which is here represented, was begun in 1790, and was enlarged by J. Nash and G. S. Repton in 1816-8.

R. B. Schnebbelie, whose father also practised art, and whose grandfather, a native of Zurich, had been in the Dutch navy, was employed as a draughtsman for many years beginning about 1803, and did much good work for Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata”; this is the original of an engraving in that publication. He died about 1849.

By R. B. Schnebbelie, 1819. Lent by H.M. the King.

25 KING STREET GATE-HOUSE.

Watercolour. 8¼ by 13 in.

The original of an engraving which is in the first volume of “Vetusta Monumenta,” published by the Society of Antiquaries, the latter having on it the date 1725. This building stood at the north end of King Street and north-east corner of Downing Street, some little distance south of the so-called Holbein or Whitehall Gate-house, and although less ornate was of some beauty and importance, as may here be seen. It also dated from the time of Henry VIII, and was demolished in 1723 to improve the approaches to Westminster.

George Vertue was in 1717 appointed engraver to the Society of Antiquaries, and did many excellent engravings for them; he also, as we see, practised in watercolour, and his literary works are of value. He collected a mass of memoranda relating to former artists, and this collection, now in the British Museum, having been bought after his death by Horace Walpole, formed the basis of the latter’s “Anecdotes of Painting in England.” Vertue lived and died a strict Roman Catholic.

By G. Vertue, 1723 (1684-1756). Lent by H.M. the King.

26 THE OLD PLAYHOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.

Watercolour. 8½ by 7½ in.

A brick building, with stone dressings and a tiled roof. It was on the site of a former theatre and dated from 1714. Here “The Beggar’s Opera” was produced, and ran for sixty nights. After various vicissitudes it became a store-place for Messrs. Copeland and Spode’s china, and was finally demolished for the enlargement of the Museum of the College of Surgeons. Lent by H.M. the King.

27 CUPER’S GARDENS, LAMBETH, FROM THE RIVER.

Watercolour. 15½ by 6¾ in.

These gardens, over against Somerset House in the Strand, were named after Boydell Cuper, gardener to Thomas, Earl of Arundel, who, when Arundel House was taken down, moved some of the mutilated marbles there, and opened them as a place of popular amusement. It continued to be thus used, and was famous for its fireworks. Degenerating in character, it was suppressed about the year 1753. On the site Messrs. Beaufoy established their works; they moved to South Lambeth when Waterloo Bridge (which runs over part of the gardens) was erected. The watercolour hardly looks as if it were earlier than the date of the closing of the gardens. Perhaps there was no great change in the entrance for some years.

Lent by Sir E. Coates.

28 THE NURSERY, GOLDEN LANE.

Watercolour. 6¼ by 8¼ in.

Wrongly named the Fortune Play House, Golden Lane. The latter, originally built for Henslowe and Alleyn according to contract, “the frame to be sett square,” was destroyed by fire in 1621, and was replaced by a fabric of circular plan soon afterwards. In 1661 its site was advertised to be let for building.

The “Nursery,” here depicted, was a school for the education of children for the stage, having been erected as the result of a patent granted by Charles II to one of the Legge family. It was drawn by J. T. Smith, who called it the Queen’s Nursery. The present watercolour was the original of an engraving in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.”

George Shepherd devoted himself to topographical work. There are many watercolours of old London buildings by him in the Coates and Crace collections and elsewhere, executed from about 1792 to 1830 (his name being thus spelt), and they are good records.

By G. Shepherd, 1811. Lent by H.M. the King.

29 ST. PAUL’S FROM AN ARCH OF BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.

Watercolour. 6¾ by 8¼ in.

By T. Malton the Younger (1748-1804). Lent by Mr. A. A. Allen.

30a REMAINS OF WINCHESTER HOUSE, AUSTIN FRIARS, FROM GREAT WINCHESTER STREET.

Watercolour. 8½ by 7 in.

After the Dissolution the precinct of Austin Friars, except the nave of the church, came into the hands of William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester, who there made a residence for himself. A portion of it remained until 1844, and is here shown; the heavy portico is evidently a later addition. During recent excavations masonry was found which must have belonged to this building.

By G. Shepherd, 1811. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

30b BACK OF WINCHESTER HOUSE, AUSTIN FRIARS.

Watercolour. 7¼ by 4¾ in.

Samuel Ireland, who painted this, was originally a mechanic of Spitalfields. He took to art, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782, and brought out various illustrated books. The last was “Picturesque Views of the Inns of Court,” published in 1800, the year in which he died. His son achieved notoriety as forger of Shakespeare manuscripts.

By S. Ireland. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

31 [INTERIOR OF SECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE.] Plate XIII.

Watercolour. 21½ by 16 in.

The first Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, being opened by Queen Elizabeth 23 January 1570-71. It was destroyed in the Great Fire.

The second Exchange, designed by Edward Jarman or Jerman, City surveyor, and begun 1667, was, like the earlier one, a quadrangular building, with a clock tower on the chief front facing Cornhill. Business was transacted in the covered walk or cloister within. The statue of Charles II in the centre was by Grinling Gibbons.

This view was drawn from the north-west corner of the walk; the pinnacles of St. Michael’s church tower, Cornhill, appear above the building.

Unsigned. Date probably about 1810. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

32 VIEW FROM A HOUSE IN PALL MALL.

Watercolour. 11¼ by 14¾ in.

This view is signed and dated 1824, and forms a fitting companion to [No. 34], which is of the same style. The artist, William Hunt, born in 1790, had a great reputation in his day as a painter of fruit, flowers, birds’ nests, and other subjects of the kind, and also of rustic figures. His landscape is less known, and the works by him here exhibited are executed with unusual freedom. In these examples much of the outline is drawn with a pen.

The artist in this case must have been sitting on the balustraded projection of a building, long ago destroyed, on the north side of Pall Mall. He looked east, and the steeple of the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields appears in the distance.

By W. Hunt, 1824 (1790-1864). Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.

33 [CHURCH OF ST. PETER LE POOR, OLD BROAD STREET.] Plate XIV.

Watercolour. 13½ by 17½ in.

This is the old church of St. Peter Le Poor on the west side of Old Broad Street, which in Stow’s opinion may have been so called because it was “sometime peradventure a poor parish.” It escaped the Great Fire, but traffic increasing, as it needed repair and projected into the street, it was pulled down in 1788 and rebuilt farther back. The second church, an indifferent piece of architecture, has been destroyed under the Union of Benefices Act within the last few years.

Lent by Sir E. Coates.

34 [VIEW FROM THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. MARTIN’S-IN-THE-FIELDS.] Plate XV.

Watercolour. 13¼ by 19½ in.

In “Notes on Prout and Hunt” by Ruskin for an exhibition in 1879-80, he says: “Hunt learned his business not in spots but in lines. Compare the sketch of the river-side, No. 124, which is as powerful in lines as Rembrandt, and the St. Martin’s Church, No. 123, which is like a bit of Hogarth.” The view is along the colonnaded west front of the church, and up St. Martin’s Lane, of which the part here shown no longer exists. The bit of churchyard with tombstones disappeared on the formation of Duncannon Street.

By W. Hunt (1790-1864). Lent by Mr. T. Girtin.

35 [ENCAMPMENT IN THE GROUNDS OF MONTAGUE HOUSE.] Plate XVI.

Watercolour. 26½ by 19½ in.

The first Montague House, Bloomsbury, was destroyed by fire 19 January 1685-6, and the second, here shown, was designed soon afterwards by a Frenchman, Pierre Puget, or Poughet. The encampment is on the open space at the back of the mansion. The West Yorkshire Regiment is represented marching past Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Bangor, afterwards Bishop of Canterbury. Montague House had been bought for the British Museum under an Act passed in 1753. Additions were gradually made, but it was not until 1845 that the old building was entirely demolished.

S. H. Grimm, who painted this watercolour, which is signed and dated, was born at Burgdorf, Switzerland, and settled in London about 1778. He sometimes exhibited at the Royal Academy, and was employed by the Society of Antiquaries, his work being chiefly topographical.

By S. H. Grimm, 1780 (1734-1794). Lent by H.M. the King.

36a VIEW NEAR THE TURNPIKE AT NEW CROSS.

Watercolour, outlined with a pen. 12½ by 9½ in.

The scene is a rural one, with what appear to be an oast-house and other farm buildings in the foreground. The hill is called in Rocque’s map showing the Environs of London (1745) Plow’d Garlick Hill, afterwards Telegraph Hill. On it stands Aske’s School, belonging to the Haberdashers’ Company. Much of the rest remained open until a few years ago; now only a recreation ground has been saved from the builder. This hill is immediately south of the Turnpike site, now called New Cross Gate. New Cross was an outlying district of the parish of Deptford. Evelyn, in his “Diary,” 10 November 1675, mentions going in his coach from Sayes Court to “New Cross” to accompany Lord Berkeley to Dover. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

36b NEW CROSS TURNPIKE ON THE KENT ROAD.

Mezzotint, with an etched outline. 11 by 7¾ in.

This print happened to be mounted on the same sheet as the watercolour below. It was drawn by J. Dillon, engraved by R. Laurie, and published in 1783. To spectator’s left is a board with the words, “The New Cross House”; on the right a sign of a man’s head. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

37 [CHANTREY CHAPEL OF HENRY V, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.] Plate XVII.

Drawn with a pen and tinted. 10¼ by 12½ in.

A careful architectural drawing, signed and dated, wherein some curious figures known as “the Ragged Regiment” are depicted. These are effigies of royal personages which were exhibited at their funerals. By degrees they got into a neglected state. Some years ago what remained of them was collected together, and the relics are now in the crypt adjoining the pyx chamber. A paper on them was published in “Archaeologia,” vol. lx, whence the following notes are culled identifying a few of the figures. The number refers to that on the drawing. II is thought to have represented Katherine of Valois. It is carved out of a single piece of wood; the dress has been painted bright vermilion. III, Anne of Denmark. IV, Henry VII, face finely modelled in plaster and painted, probably by an Italian. V is held to be Elizabeth of York. VI may have been James I, and VIII Queen Mary I. The fronts of the reliquary cupboards, here shown, have disappeared, their hinges remain. John Carter, an enthusiastic admirer of Gothic architecture, is referred to in our preface.

By John Carter, 1786 (1748-1817). Lent by Sir E. Coates.

38 [ABBOT ISLIP’S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.] Plate XVIII.

Watercolour. 15½ by 21½ in.

This painting was exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy in 1796, and is an example of the thorough architectural work which he sometimes did in his earlier years. On a stone in the pavement is “William Turner natus 1775.” It was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1871.

By J. M. W. Turner, R.A., 1796 (1775-1851). Lent by Mr. R. W. Lloyd.

39a SECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE WEST.

Watercolour. 6¾ by 9½ in.

On the building at west end are the words: “Royal Exchange Insurance for lives.” The tower is surmounted by Gresham’s crest, the grasshopper. Signed and dated.

By G. Shepherd, 1810. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

39b SECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

St. Paul’s Cathedral appears in the distance. Signed and dated.

By G. Shepherd, 1812. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

39c SECOND ROYAL EXCHANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

Etching and aquatint, touched with sepia. 5 by 7½ in.

Same size as last from same point of view and similar in design, but tower as rebuilt, from design by G. Smith, surveyor to the Mercers’ Company, between 1819 and 1824, when a sum of over £34,000 was spent on the fabric.

By G. Shepherd. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

40a CHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, FROM SOUTH-WEST.

Watercolour. 8 by 9½ in.

A church of Norman foundation, but rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and again to a great extent after a fire in 1545. Upper part of tower dates from 1683-4.

Signed and dated.

By G. Shepherd, 1815. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

40b CHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, FROM FORE STREET.

Pencil. 7¾ by 6 in.

The building here shown against the church, in foreground, was called the Quest-house. It was destroyed about eighteen years ago.

This drawing is signed by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, who between about 1820 and 1859 did hundreds of views of old London, but, unlike others of his surname, never exhibited at the Royal Academy, and is not noticed by Redgrave.

By T. H. Shepherd. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

41 [HALL OF BROTHERHOOD OF HOLY TRINITY, ALDERSGATE.] Plate XIX.

Pencil. 16 by 13 in.

This hall, described on the drawing as a chapel, was on the west side of Aldersgate Street, a little beyond the church of St. Botolph, and was destroyed about 1790. Here was latterly the Aldersgate Coffee-house; the site is marked by Trinity Court.

The brotherhood was suppressed by Edward VI. It had been founded in 1377 as a fraternity of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian. The interior here shown has an open timber roof of the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, and a Renaissance fireplace. In the large window is stained glass.

William Capon, who made this and many other topographical drawings, was a scene-painter and architect; his antiquarian knowledge was considerable. He was a conceited man, Sheridan called him “Pompous Billy.”

By W. Capon, 1790 (1757-1827). Lent by Sir E. Coates.

42a ST. JAMES’S PARK AND BUCKINGHAM HOUSE.

Watercolour. 16½ by 9¼ in.

From the end of the ornamental water looking towards Buckingham House; on the left are important buildings facing the park. Many figures, boy in foreground flying a kite. The canal was formed soon after the Restoration. Pepys on 16 September 1660, mentions seeing the work in progress.

Carefully drawn with a pen and tinted, after the manner of the artist, who usually engraved his views on copper.

By J. Maurer, 1741. Lent by H.M. the King.

42b ST. JAMES’S PALACE AND THE MALL.

Watercolour. 16¾ by 8¾ in.

In the distance is the steeple of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Deer can be seen in the open ground to right.

By J. Maurer, 1741. Lent by H.M. the King.

43 ST. MARY-LE-BONE CHURCH.

Watercolour. 6½ by 4 in.

The new church built in 1813-4. A rural scene, in the foreground are trees and a pond.

By J. Varley (1778-1842). Lent by Mr. J. P. Heseltine.

44 SALE OF BOOKS BY AUCTION AT SOTHEBY’S.

Watercolour. 9¼ by 5¾ in.

Drawn with a pen and tinted after Rowlandson’s usual manner.

We are fortunate in exhibiting caricatures of auction sales by two historic firms, both still flourishing. Sotheby’s began in 1744 with Mr. Samuel Baker, who at first held sales in taverns and other convenient places. In 1754 he established himself at York Street, Covent Garden, and in 1767 formed a partnership with Mr. J. Leigh. In 1778 the firm became Leigh and Sotheby. We need only add that in 1804 the business was moved to 145 Strand, and in 1818 to 3 Waterloo Bridge, re-named 13 Wellington Street, which was given up two years ago for more commodious quarters in New Bond Street.

By T. Rowlandson (1756-1827). Lent by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge.

45 [SITE OF EUSTON SQUARE, 1809.] Plate XX.

Watercolour. 9¾ by 8½ in.

Signed “T. Rowlandson.” Written in pencil, but hidden, are the words: “Richard Trevithick’s Railroad, Euston Square 1809.” In fact, the Square dates only from 1825; as late as 1820 its site was a large nursery garden, and a group of farm buildings occupied ground on which the London and North Western Railway now stands. Trevithic, “father of the locomotive engine,” the main facts of whose remarkable career are recorded in “Dict. Nat. Biog.,” must have hired the ground in order to test and exhibit his invention.

In the distance is Primrose Hill, with Hampstead beyond. Attractive design and colour give charm to a subject not easy of treatment.

Rowlandson, trained in Paris and at the Academy schools, was an accomplished artist, capable of something much more refined than his clever caricatures, which most people know by coarse reproductions of them.

By T. Rowlandson, 1809 (1756-1827). Lent by Mr. H. C. Levis.

46 SALE OF PICTURES BY AUCTION AT CHRISTIE’S.

Watercolour. 11¼ by 8¼ in.

The firm owes its origin to a notable man, James Christie, who issued his first catalogue in 1766. A portrait of him, painted by his friend Gainsborough, originally a good advertisement of the skill of the artist, was long hanging in the “great auction rooms” on the south side of Pall Mall, where Christie took up his quarters, next to Schomberg House. It was afterwards at the present address, No. 8 King Street, St. James’s, to which the firm moved in 1824. They now only have an engraving of it. Rowlandson drew another caricature of an auction sale at Christie’s.

By T. Rowlandson (1756-1827). Lent by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods.

47 [OLD CHEESE-CAKE HOUSE, HYDE PARK, 1797.] Plate XXI.

Watercolour. 21½ by 12 in.

The building, close to the Serpentine, is thus mentioned in Howard’s “English Monsieur” (1674): “Nay, ’tis no London female; she’s a thing that never saw a cheesecake, a tart, or a syllabub at the Lodge in Hyde Park.” Swift writes to Stella that after his duel with Lord Mohun the Duke of Hamilton was helped towards the “Cake-house,” but died on the grass before he could reach it. Later it was sometimes called the Mince-pie House. Demolished 1835-36. There is an engraving of it in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for May 1801.

Date 1797. Lent by H.M. the King.

48a BUCKINGHAM HOUSE.

Wash drawing in Indian ink. 10¾ by 5¾ in.

Buckingham House in St. James’s Park was designed by Captain William Winde, said to have been a pupil of Gerbier, and to have been born at Bergen-op-Zoom, being finished for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in 1705. There is an account of it with elevation in Sir Reginald Blomfield’s book on English renaissance architecture. It was bought by George III, settled on Queen Charlotte, and here Dr. Johnson had his famous interview with the King. The original building was altered and added to from 1825 onwards until it quite disappeared, Buckingham Palace covering the site.

Winde was of Norfolk family, well connected. See references to him in “Notes and Queries,” and his pedigree by Mr. J. Challenor Smith in Surrey Arch. Coll., vol. x.

By J. Maurer, 1746. Lent by H.M. the King.

48b THE HORSE GUARDS PARADE.

Wash drawing in Indian ink. 10¾ by 5¾ in.

On spectator’s left is the Admiralty (on the site of Wallingford House), surmounted by a semaphore telegraph. To the left of the Banqueting House is the Guard House, not that designed by Kent and finished by Vardy, but a previous building. Through the gateway beneath, a long procession has issued, the royal carriage with eight horses being in the foreground. Among other buildings shown are the Holbein Gate-house and the Treasury.

By J. Maurer, about 1750. Lent by H.M. the King.

49 [FISHMONGERS’ HALL FROM THE RIVER.] Plate XXII.

Watercolour. 12 by 8¼ in.

The Fishmongers stand fourth on the list of the City Companies. This was their hall built after the Great Fire by Edward Jerman. It is said to have been the scene of Plate VIII of Hogarth’s “Industry and Idleness,” and was destroyed at the time of the rebuilding of London Bridge, which now covers its site. The present hall, near the north-west angle of the bridge, is a short distance farther up the river. The original hall had been the residence of Lord Fanhope.

Date about 1810. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

50 LANDING AT THE “CROWN AND SCEPTRE” TAVERN, GREENWICH.

Watercolour. 11¾ by 8¼ in.

Part of Greenwich Hospital in mid-distance. The “Crown and Sceptre” was one of the old riverside taverns which ministered to the taste of Londoners for whitebait.

By T. Rowlandson (1756-1827). Lent by Mr. E. H. Coles.

51 THE BANK LOTTERY.

Watercolour. 23¾ by 16½ in.

A lottery in the Rotunda of the Bank of England.

Between 1709 and 1824 the Government raised large sums from lotteries authorized by Act of Parliament.

By T. Rowlandson (1756-1827). Lent by Sir E. Coates.

52 BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.

Watercolour. 13 by 8¾ in.