Entrance Screen at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire: Elevation and Plan
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)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.2.151
Gallery Label:
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