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Thomas Robins the elder is something of an elusive figure. Best known as the ‘limner’ of Bath, and as a painter of prospects of houses and gardens, he was a talented botanical artist as well as a fan painter and engraver. His prospects and views of great houses and gardens are a remarkable record of the architecture and particularly the garden designs of the mid-18th Century.His first great patron was Dickie Bateman (c. 1705-1773), who in around 1730 had bought Grove House, next to Old Windsor church, and set about laying out an elaborate new garden full of gothick and chinoiserie ornament. Robins recorded the garden in his first known pair of painted views, probably dating prior to 1748, and surrounded by the elaborate rococo floral border which would become characteristic of his work. Woodside House, also in Windsor, was acquired by Hugh Hamersley in 1753, and he set about rearranging the gardens under the influence of Thomas Wright’s Universal Architecture, a pattern book of unusual arbours and grottoes. Hamersley commissioned Robins to make at least three paintings of his new gardens, including the present drawing. These drawings are the pinnacle of Robin’s rococo style in the late 1750s. His use of watercolour and bodycolour on vellum is typical of both fan painters and botanical artists.
Thomas Robins, the elder (1716-1770)
A gothick chapel in an extensive park, in a cartouche decorated with cut flowers
Details
Thomas Robins, the elder (1716-1770)
A gothick chapel in an extensive park, in a cartouche decorated with cut flowers
pencil, pen and ink and bodycolour on vellum
16 ¾ x 24 ¾ in. (42.5 x 62.9 cm.)
A gothick chapel in an extensive park, in a cartouche decorated with cut flowers
pencil, pen and ink and bodycolour on vellum
16 ¾ x 24 ¾ in. (42.5 x 62.9 cm.)
Provenance
with Mallett, London, June 1977.
Literature
J. Harris, 'Epitome of English Rococo', Country Life, 10 February 1972, p. 345 (illustrated).
M. Laird, The Flowering of the Landscape Garden: English Pleasure Grounds 1720-1800, Philadelphia, p. 187.
M. Laird, The Flowering of the Landscape Garden: English Pleasure Grounds 1720-1800, Philadelphia, p. 187.
Exhibited
London, R.I.B.A., Heinz Gallery, Gardens of Delight, 1975-6, fig. 3.
Sale room notice
We are grateful to Cathryn Spence for identifying the subject of this watercolour as
The Gothic Temple at Portmore House, Weybridge. It was previously known as Dorchester House, after Countess Dorchester, mistress of James II. The property was later owned by the Duke of Norfolk and demolished in 1822. There is a related sketch in the Thomas Robbins sketchbook at the V & A (E1308:90-2001) and another with a detail of the house with the temple beyond. The garden is described by Pococke.
Cathryn Spence is Curator/Archivist at Bowood House& Gardens.
Her new publication on Thomas Robbins will be published in 2020.
She has requested the inclusion and illustration of this lot
The Gothic Temple at Portmore House, Weybridge. It was previously known as Dorchester House, after Countess Dorchester, mistress of James II. The property was later owned by the Duke of Norfolk and demolished in 1822. There is a related sketch in the Thomas Robbins sketchbook at the V & A (E1308:90-2001) and another with a detail of the house with the temple beyond. The garden is described by Pococke.
Cathryn Spence is Curator/Archivist at Bowood House& Gardens.
Her new publication on Thomas Robbins will be published in 2020.
She has requested the inclusion and illustration of this lot
Brought to you by
Dido Penny