Perhaps Jan van der Vaart, 1647–1721, Dutch, active in Britain (from ca. 1674)Formerly possibly Jan Wyck, ca. 1645–1700, Dutch, active in Britain (from ca. 1664)Formerly unknown artist, seventeenth century-eighteenth centuryFormerly attributed to John Wootton, 1682–1764, BritishFormerly Jan Siberechts, 1627–ca. 1703, Flemish, active in Britain (from 1672)
Title:
Bifrons Park, Kent
Date:
between 1695 and 1705
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
61 1/2 x 91 1/2 inches (156.2 x 232.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.83
Gallery Label:
The early seventeenth-century manor Bifrons Park is shown situated in an idyllic valley of green fields surrounded by woodland. The house was so-named for its two “faces” or wings. Once home to John Bargrave, canon of Canterbury Cathedral and a famous collector of curiosities, Bifrons was acquired by the politician John Taylor in 1694. This view was probably commissioned by Taylor as a record of prosperity and legacy: the members of the hunting party in the foreground are likely his children. They included the brilliant mathematician Brooke Taylor, author of an essay on the theory of perspective over curved surfaces. This may explain the picture’s carefully planned perspective, which includes the unusual introduction of several identifiable church towers scattered throughout the landscape. Canterbury Cathedral is the larger tower visible in the distance on the left, and St. Mary’s Patrixbourne is the church closest to the house, nestled among the trees in the valley on the right. Together, the churches orient the position of the house almost as well as any map. \n\n Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016