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 facsimile of a drawing from Thorpe’s sketch book, which was used as the frontispiece in Richardson’s collection. It depicts an exterior view and plan of a house designed in the form of the initials I and T, and intended for Thorpe himself as appears from the doggerel lines written in the drawing:

These 2 letters I and T

Joined together as you see

Is meant for a dwelling house for me

John Thorpe.

The ornamental borders surrounding the design are selected from among an ample collection of friezes and ornaments characteristic of the style.