- Museum number
- 1854,0513.7
- Description
-
Richmond Palace, Surrey; view N, from the Twickenham bank of the Thames across the river to the opposite bank, on which stands the 'Privy Lodgings', the Great Orchard, the Livery Kitchen 'spire', and part of the gallery surrounding the Privy Garden, with two ladies and a gentleman in the foreground r, a wherry in mid-stream and a pleasure-barge against the far bank
Pen and brown ink, with brown-grey wash, over graphite
- Production date
- 1636-1638
- Dimensions
-
Height: 81 millimetres
-
Width: 124 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Study for the central portion of the etching of Richmond (Hind 109; Pennington 1058), upon which Hollar elaborated the final design, significantly extending the view laterally, particularly at the left, and enlarging the group of three figures in the foreground. As Hollar's finished print was produced in 1638, Sprinzels' later dating of this drawing is difficult to maintain, and according to Volrábová a date soon after Hollar's arrival in England also fits with the properties of this sheet, which retains many of the traits of the German drawings produced in the years before his transition to London. Another drawing from this same visit, dated as a well as signed, is now in Windsor (Volrábová, III/9).
Richmond Palace, one of the favourite residences of the Tudor monarchs, was founded by Henry VII in 1499 on the site of the Palace of Sheen. He rechristened it Richmond in 1501 in honour of his own former title as Earl of Richmond (in Yorkshire). Queen Elizabeth died in the palace in 1603, and it later housed much of the art collection of Prince Henry and Charles I. Sequestrated under the Commonwealth, it fell into decay, and the greater part was pulled down in the reign of Queen Anne, leaving only the gateway and the range of buildings at right angles to it known as the Wardrobe.
Lit.: S. Turner, 'Hovering like a hawk over the rooftops: Hollar's sketches and drawings of London', in A. Bubenik and A. Thackray eds, 'Perspectives on Wenceslaus Hollar', London, 2016, pp. 144-5, fig. 6
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1949-50 BM, English topographical and landscape drawing, no.27
1963 Sep-Nov, Manchester CAG, Hollar, no.D81
2019-2020 22 Nov-23 Feb, Prague, Narodni Galerie, Wenceslaus Hollar
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1854,0513.7