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Presentation design for ceremonial entrance to St Margaret's Church, Westminster Palace
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Reference number
SM drawer 69/1/11
Purpose
Presentation design for ceremonial entrance to St Margaret's Church, Westminster Palace
Aspect
Elevation (with figurative sketches on verso)
Scale
1 foot to 15/32 (32 mm)
Inscribed
In pencil at top left in C18-19 hand, I. Jones; and on verso, in pencil, at lower centre, St Margarits Westmr, and at top left in thicker pencil or black chalk, Arms in / [undecipherable word]
Signed and dated
- c.1660
Medium and dimensions
Pen and brown ink with light grey wash and some fine pencil shading; pen and brown ink sketching on verso of backing sheet; some ruled line drawing and sketching visible in strong light on recto of backing sheet; on dark-cream thin laid paper, laid down on contemporary dark-cream thick laid paper; 343 x 236.
Hand
Unidentified, but probably Dutch
Watermark
Very faint (on backing sheet): shield and crown with lion supporters
Notes
The design is for an entrance 7 feet wide and 11 feet 8 inches high. It may have been intended for the main west entrance of St Margaret's Church, facing the north churchyard of Westminster Abbey and the ceremonial route from the Abbey to Westminster Hall (see SM drawer 62/4/1). The hand of the draughtsman is extraordinarily precise. The rendering of the Corinthian capitals and fluted column shafts suggests an experienced architect. It could be the work of the Dutch architect Willem de Keyser, who was in London in the early 1660s, although no authenticated drawings in his hand survive (see A. Geraghty, The Architectural Drawings of Sir Christopher Wren, 2007, p. 125).On the back of the drawing is a rough pen sketch of male and female busts on socle bases. This could indicate that the draughtsman was a monumental sculptor.
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk