John Nash, 1752–1835, BritishJohn Adey Repton, 1775–1860, British
Title:
Corsham Court, Wiltshire: Elevation of the North Front
Date:
ca. 1797
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor and graphite with pen and black ink on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 7 9/16 × 14 3/8 inches (19.2 × 36.5 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.2.392
Gallery Label:
In 1796, Paul Cobb Methuen commissioned John Nash to make alterations to Corsham Court, Wiltshire. Methuen’s Elizabethan mansion sat within a park designed by Lancelot “Capability” Brown and was in the process of being completely remodeled by Humphrey Repton. Nash drastically altered and expanded the building. This elevation shows the executed design for a new north front, having an expansive Gothic stone facade ornamented with crenellations and towers capped with ogival domes. The center of the elevation is punctuated by large projecting bays crowned with flying buttresses linking tall turrets to a hexagonal upper story. This prominent feature evokes Henry VI’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey and behind it lay the impressive Saloon, measuring 40 feet in diameter, lit by the large traceried windows. Nash’s building work at Corsham Court was completed in 1798 but was largely replaced by T. Bellamy’s alterations in the mid-nineteenth century. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014
