Description

An original antique stone lithograph based on the work of John Thorpe (fl. 1570-1618). Published in Charles James Richardson’s ‘Architectural Remains of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I’ in 1838. Engraved by Day and Haghe from sketches by Richardson. Stone lithography is the ideal medium for such work, as the fine detail captures the impression of the artist’s pencil sketch. The intention of Richardson’s publication was to present ‘a full, correct, and comprehensive collection’ of the more valuable examples of Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture, as opposed to those ‘deficient in unity and simplicity of character’. The idea for the publication was suggested by the many ‘curious and original drawings’ by John Thorpe to be found in Sir John Soane’s Museum. John Thorpe was a prominent architect of the period. As Richardson puts it, ‘there were few celebrated houses then erecting in which Thorpe was not engaged’.

This engraving shows a view in perspective of an exterior to be found elsewhere in the collection. See product APAC0170, ‘Ornamented Exteriors and Plans’, Fig 2. Richardson considered this to be ‘the most curious and complete example of the wooden architecture of the 16th Century handed down to us by Thorpe’. Richardson here uses ornament from buildings elsewhere to demonstrate typical ornament of the period: the ornament used in the terraces is from the pulpit of St. Laurence Church, near Ramsgate, and is also shown in elevation at the upper part of the plate. The other ornamental borders surrounding the design are from the parlour at Holland House and the organ screen in the Chapel at the Charter House.