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Reference number

SM volume 109/65

Purpose

[8/2] Preparatory design for the west elevation of the chapel up to the corner towers and attic

Aspect

Elevation

Scale

10 feet to 1 inch

Inscribed

By Hawksmoor in brown ink, to right of tower: From A to B Contains ye halfe / ffront.; and below right end of portico, Scale 10 f in One Inch; and with dimensions, vertically against column pedestals and columns, f 5, and f 60; and in centre of portico and on right side of wall edge of tower, A and B, and in graphite to left of tower, Draw this hole front / Scale as at A; and in C19 hand at top and bottom right corners, written vertically, 65. , and 65.

Signed and dated

  • Undated, but datable 1711

Medium and dimensions

Pen and brown ink over graphite under drawing, with small addition in graphite; on laid paper, backed on right-hand side by C19 strip of wove paper, 105 mm wide; 480 x 370 (including 6mm overlap with attached sheet, 109/66, [9/3]).

Hand

Hawksmoor

Watermark

Small fleur-de-lis; CDG

Notes

This incomplete half-elevation of the west side of the chapel, towards Greenwich, is closely related to a drawing by Hawksmoor of the south front of the chapel in half-elevation at Castle Howard (see Wren Society, vol. XVII, pl. 51). The Castle Howard drawing was prepared later, as it incorporates the dome and peristyle and refinements the detailing of the main elevation. Both elevations post-date the large half-plan [8/1] and half-elevation [8/3], in which the chapel towers have giant-order pilasters and pedimented turrets. In the half-plan, [8/1], the chapel has an additional line of columns sketched in pencil in front of the west portico. This forward colonnade is shown in front view in this drawing and in side view in the Castle Howard south elevation.

The arch above the portico is probably set some way back, on the line of the west wall of the portico, beneath the dome at the crossing of the church (an arch is shown sketched in graphite in this position on the plan, [8/1]).

The instruction to Draw this hole front may have been intended for John James, who was responsible for two of the plans of the dome and peristyle [8/5 and 6]. No complete west elevation of this scheme survives.

Literature

Downes 1979, cat. 337, pp. 93-95 Wren Society, VI, pl. 38

Level

Drawing

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