1 in to 1 ft

• 1803-07

Pen, raw umber, sepia, warm sepia, burnt umber, black, Venetian red, green earth, yellow, blue and pink washes (watercolour and gouache), pencil, hatching, shaded on laid paper, with one old patch

Dance

D & C Blauw IV and D&CBxX in crowned cartouche surmounted by fleur-de-lis

Previously filed with a group of unidentified designs, this highly finished wall elevation must have been made for presentation. It is likely that it was the older Robert Smirke who carried out the frieze in an Etruscan style with red-figure paintings on a black ground taken from Greek vases. They were old friends and perhaps Dance made the drawing with Smirke as well as Baring in mind, and for his own pleasure too.

The right-hand side of the drawing is more finished; gouache has been used to render the rich colours of the painted panels and woodwork. The paler washes of the left-hand side and the use of shadow convey the impression of the northwestern end of the library bathed in golden light of an early summer's morning. Artistic licence has been taken with, for example, the books that are rendered with pale washes since, treated realistically, their dark tones would have distracted attention from the glowing browns, red, black and yellow of the painted decoration. Considering the amount of light in the rooms, the book spines would have become very faded unless blinds were installed and used.

Dance's scheme of decoration combines geometry (the picked-out door panels, circular motifs of the low dado, panelled pilasters and Greek fret frieze) and firm outlines (the Greek vase figures) with the softer forms and colours of a scrolly anthemion crowning frieze, the masks and festoons of the panels over the doors and the cloth-like decoration above and below the painted panels. The chimney-piece and looking glass over it are unobtrusive in this design. See the note on painted decoration in Appendix 1.

REPRODUCED. Stroud fig.66a (upside down); I. C. Bristow, Architectural colour in British interiors 1615-1840, 1996, fig.173.

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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