Entrance Screen at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire: Elevation and Plan

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William Kent, ca.1686–1748, British, Entrance Screen at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire: Elevation and Plan, ca. 1733

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Creator:

William Kent, ca.1686–1748

Title:

Entrance Screen at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire: Elevation and Plan

Former Title(s):

Design for a Screen and Gateway at Chiswick

Date:

ca. 1733

Materials & Techniques:

Graphite, pen and black ink, brown wash, and gray wash on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 10 5/8 × 14 3/4 inches (27 × 37.5 cm)

Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Watermark: fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche and LVG below

Inscribed on verso in graphite, lower right: "Chiswick"

Credit Line:

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Copyright Status:

Public Domain

Accession Number:

B1975.2.151

Classification:

Drawing & Watercolors-Architectural

Collection:

Prints and Drawings

Subject Terms:

architectural subject | garden structures | gateways | Palladian

Associated Places:

Access:

Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
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Link:

https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:10835

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This design proposes two possible treatments of an entrance screen with heavily rusticated arches: one crowned by ball moldings, the other with pediments. The screen was probably intended for Stowe, Buckinghamshire. From the 1730s until his death in 1749, Sir Richard Temple, first Viscount Cobham (1675–1749) commissioned numerous designs for interior alterations to Stowe House as well as garden temples and other embellishments to the landscape from William Kent. A related design for Stowe is engraved in Isaac Ware's Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent (1744, plate 50). The engraved version shows a tripartite gateway with similar ornament to this design. Among the works attributed to Kent at Stowe are the twin gateways flanking the north front of the house, which have rustication and pediments close to those in this drawing. The drawing is in Kent's hand, with his characteristic hatching, free-hand pen line, and loose use of brown wash. The tree and landscape in the background are in gray wash, suggesting that these decorative elements may have been added by Kent at a later date. A similar tree is included on Kent's drawing for a temple at Rousham (see B1975.2.154).

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014

The World of Alexander Pope (Yale Center for British Art, 1988-04-08 - 1988-05-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Early Georgian Landscape Garden (Yale Center for British Art, 1983-04-20 - 1983-06-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Country Houses in Great Britain - Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 1979-10-10 - 1980-01-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Country houses in Great Britain., Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1979, p. 70, no. 52, N6764 Y34 1979 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Wilmerding, Essays in honor of Paul Mellon, collector and benefactor : Essays, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC & Hanover, NH, 1986, p. 150, fig. 15, N7442.2 M455 1986 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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