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  • image SM volume 109/32

Reference number

SM volume 109/32

Purpose

[12/25] Record drawing of completed design for east elevation of Queen Mary's Court, probably intended for engraving

Aspect

Elevation

Scale

10 feet to just under 17/20 feet to 1 inch

Inscribed

In grey ink with numbered scale bay; in pen and brown ink in unidentified hand from office of Thomas Ripley, East Front of Queen Mary's Court; and at bottom right in C19 hand, 32

Signed and dated

  • Undated, but datable c.1735

Medium and dimensions

Pen and grey ink over graphite under-drawing, with grey washes; ruled grey ink double border lines; on laid paper; 493 x 710

Hand

Hawksmoor

Watermark

Strasbourg Lily / 4; IV

Notes

The double-ruled border around the sheet and the precisely graduated technique for shading the roof slopes suggest a design prepared with engraving in mind, or at least for formal presentation purposes. The pediment over the central pavilion became known as 'Ripley's Saddle'. The pediment rose well above the roofline and caused the chimneys to smoke (Bold 2000, p. 167 and fig. 221). It was removed in 1777 and replaced by the present balustraded attic. The scale bar and numbering on this drawing are matched on [12/26, 30 and 31]. All four elevations display the same pen and wash technique, with exceptionally fine pen lines and smoothly graded wash. The same hand appears to have been responsible for [12/16-23]. Another hand appears to have been at work on[12/24, 28 and 29].

Literature

Axel Klausmeier, Thomas Ripley, Architekt: Fallstudie einer Karriere im Royal Office of the King's Works im Zeitalter des Neopalladianismus, Frankfurt am Main, 2000, pp. 113-24; not in Wren Society

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