Octagonal Temple at Shotover Park, Oxfordshire: Plan, Section and Elevation
Date:
ca. 1738
Materials & Techniques:
Brown wash, pen and brown ink, and graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 11 1/4 x 12 3/8 inches (28.6 x 31.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.2.152
Gallery Label:
In 1718, James Tyrrell (ca. 1674–1742) inherited Shotover Park in Oxfordshire and commissioned William Kent for work on both the house and gardens. Among Kent’s additions was an octagonal temple on a mound at the southern end of Shotover’s Wilderness Garden, for which this is a design. As in this drawing, the temple as executed consisted of a simple octagonal room faced with rustication on the four principal sides and covered with a domed roof. The drawing exhibits Kent's penchant for both small detail and broader, gestural strokes of brown wash. The marginalia, showing a grotesque between acanthus leaves, is also characteristic of Kent but, as in his other drawings, it is unclear whether this detail corresponds with the design or if it is an unrelated drawing from another project added to the sheet for the purposes of convenience or ornament. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014
