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Lot Essay
Lindsey House has a rich and complex history. The 1913 Survey of London comments, 'Lindsey House, although more than once rebuilt, is the only structure existing in Chelsea, other than the old church, which shows a continuous history from the time of Sir Thomas More' (Survey of London, Chelsea ii, iv, London, 1913, p.37).
The house was built on part of the estate formerly belonging to Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, and in fact incorporates More's old farm buildings. It takes its name from Robert, 3rd Earl of Lindsey, who acquired the property in the 1660s from the family of Sir Theodore de Mayerne (1573-1655), physician to King James I and King Charles I. The Earl of Lindsey set about repairing and partly rebuilding the property during the 1670s.
In 1750, the house was purchased by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, as a centre for the Moravian community in London (an ultra-Protestant fraternity founded in eastern Bohemia in the mid-fifteenth century and revived in Germany in the eighteenth century). Count von Zinzendorf died in 1760, however, before the mission could be fully realised, and the property was sold to three separate property developers who divided it into five separate houses in 1775 (seven including the two side annexes). The transformation is documented in the present painting, which shows seven separate entrance gates. Among the numerous distinguished inhabitants of 95-101 Cheyne Walk were: Marc Isembard Brunel (between 1811-49), designer and builder of the first tunnel under the Thames; and James Whistler (between 1866-1878), who painted the celebrated portrait of his mother here.
This view of Lindsey House is taken from the recently constructed Battersea Bridge (c.1771), the edge of which is visible in the foreground of the painting. Further up stream, on the left of the painting, are shown the Cremorne Gardens, the area now occupied by Chelsea Wharf.
The house was built on part of the estate formerly belonging to Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, and in fact incorporates More's old farm buildings. It takes its name from Robert, 3rd Earl of Lindsey, who acquired the property in the 1660s from the family of Sir Theodore de Mayerne (1573-1655), physician to King James I and King Charles I. The Earl of Lindsey set about repairing and partly rebuilding the property during the 1670s.
In 1750, the house was purchased by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, as a centre for the Moravian community in London (an ultra-Protestant fraternity founded in eastern Bohemia in the mid-fifteenth century and revived in Germany in the eighteenth century). Count von Zinzendorf died in 1760, however, before the mission could be fully realised, and the property was sold to three separate property developers who divided it into five separate houses in 1775 (seven including the two side annexes). The transformation is documented in the present painting, which shows seven separate entrance gates. Among the numerous distinguished inhabitants of 95-101 Cheyne Walk were: Marc Isembard Brunel (between 1811-49), designer and builder of the first tunnel under the Thames; and James Whistler (between 1866-1878), who painted the celebrated portrait of his mother here.
This view of Lindsey House is taken from the recently constructed Battersea Bridge (c.1771), the edge of which is visible in the foreground of the painting. Further up stream, on the left of the painting, are shown the Cremorne Gardens, the area now occupied by Chelsea Wharf.