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England: Surrey: Richmond Gardens. Three studies for Queen Caroline's Hermitage in Richmond Gardens showing, top: section of interior with a table in a shell-decorated niche with a daybed on either side; centre: elevation of rustic work in three bays with gated central entrance, covered in vegetation; bottom: plan.
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Reference number
Adam vol.56/33-35
Purpose
England: Surrey: Richmond Gardens. Three studies for Queen Caroline's Hermitage in Richmond Gardens showing, top: section of interior with a table in a shell-decorated niche with a daybed on either side; centre: elevation of rustic work in three bays with gated central entrance, covered in vegetation; bottom: plan.
Aspect
Studies: section, plan and elevation
Scale
Scale for section (56/33): 1 5/8 ins to 10 ft
Inscribed
Inscribed on both album leaf and drawing in red ink 33, 34, 35
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1730
Medium and dimensions
Pen, grey and brown washes436 x 301
Hand
William Kent
Watermark
fleur de lys and shield; countermarks
Notes
These studies are probably the first or preliminary design by William Kent for Queen Caroline's Hermitage at Richmond Gardens. They can be compared with the drawing of Kent's revised design in Adam vol.56/25. This drawing is closer to Kent's print of 1738, inscribed 'View of the Hermitage. in the Royal Garden at Richmond', in the rustic quality of the architecture. According to Fleming, Robert Adam visited Richmond Gardens in 1750 and '... took a plan of the Queen's hermitage by Morris ...' (Fleming Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome (London, 1962), p.85). The reference to 'Morris' is probably to Roger (d.1749) rather than Robert Morris, who Adam knew through his work at Inveraray Castle, Argyll, Scotland. It is likely that Robert Adam acquired both this drawing and Adam vol.56/25 at that time. Alternatively he may have acquired the two drawings when he became Royal Architect in 1761 and had access to the drawings for royal buildings.
Literature
Rep. Dixon Hunt William Kent, Landscape Garden Designer (London, 1987), pl.71William Kent 1685-1748, A Poet on Paper (London, 1998), catalogue of an exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 1998, cat.28C M Sicca 'Like a shallow cave by nature made, William Kent's natural architecture at Richmond', Architectura (Munich, 1986), vol.16, pp.68-82, fig.5.
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
William Kent 1685-1748: A Poet on Paper, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 30 October - 19 December 1998
A Pelican in the Wilderness: Hermits and Solitude in Art, The Holburne Museum, Bath, 16 April - 2 June 2002
William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain, Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York, 19 September 2013 - 16 February 2014; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 22 March - 13 July 2014
A Pelican in the Wilderness: Hermits and Solitude in Art, The Holburne Museum, Bath, 16 April - 2 June 2002
William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain, Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York, 19 September 2013 - 16 February 2014; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 22 March - 13 July 2014
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