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[12/3] Record drawing of the north elevation of King Charles II Building and Base Wing, illustrating a design for a large sculptural group over the central link bay, c.1731
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Reference number
SM volume 109/29
Purpose
[12/3] Record drawing of the north elevation of King Charles II Building and Base Wing, illustrating a design for a large sculptural group over the central link bay, c.1731
Aspect
Elevation
Scale
7 feet to 1 inch
Inscribed
In black ink above scale bar in unidentified hand, a scale of 30 Feet, and in graphite with numbers below scale bar; and at bottom right in C19 hand, 29.
Signed and dated
- Undated, but datable c.1731
Medium and dimensions
Pen and dark grey ink over graphite under-drawing, with grey washes; on laid paper, laid down; four vertical folds, with some cracking and tearing along the folds; 462 x 705
Hand
Unidentified draughtsman in the office of Thomas Ripley
Watermark
Strasbourg Lily/4; IHS / IVILLEDARY
Notes
The drawing was probably prepared after [12/2] to illustrate a design for sculptural relief over the central bays of the north ranges of the Queen Anne and King Charles Courts. The relief busts on the globe probably represent King George II and Queen Caroline. Colen Campbell's perspective in Vitruvius Britannicus, vol. III (1725), pp. 3-4, shows the front with tall, curve-topped turrets over both central bays (see Bold 2000, fig. 156). The turret on the Queen Anne's Court was not built and the one on the King Charles Court was removed in c.1731-32 . The statuary shown in the left pediment was executed. It duplicates the group carved in the central pediment of the main front of the King Charles II Building by Joshua Marshall in about 1671.
Literature
Wren Society, VI, pl. 43.
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