William Kent, ca.1686–1748, British, Stowe House, Buckinghamshire: Elevation and Section of Chimney Piece in the Hall, ca. 1733
- Title:
- Stowe House, Buckinghamshire: Elevation and Section of Chimney Piece in the Hall
- Former Title(s):
- Design for a Chimneypiece
- Date:
- ca. 1733
- Materials & Techniques:
- Graphite, pen and black ink, and brown wash on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 11 1/2 × 8 1/4 inches (29.2 × 21 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, lower center: bar scale numbered "1" to "8"; inscribed on verso in pen and black ink, center: "For Lord Cobham | WK"; in graphite, lower left: "STOWE HOUSE"; in graphite, upper center: [...]
Watermark: (pasted down)
Signed on verso in center, in pen and black ink: "WK"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1981.25.2043
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- architectural subject | chimney | chimney pieces | fireplaces | mantels | sculpture
- Associated Places:
- Buckingham | Buckinghamshire | England | Europe | Staffordshire | Stowe | Stowe house | United Kingdom
- Associated People:
- Alexander
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:10878
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
It is not known whether this design for a chimneypiece at Stowe was ever executed, though the bas-relief panel shown in this drawing—the family of Darius before Alexander sculpted by Christophe Veyrier in around 1680—is today attached to a wall in Stowe’s north hall. William Kent’s chimneypiece was probably designed to surround the existing panel in that room. The chimneypiece has the bold profile and high-relief decoration typical of the mid-eighteenth century, with scrolled brackets supporting a heavily molded pedimented mantel shelf. The bas-relief is framed by a panel and attenuated scroll moldings, and surmounted by a broken pediment supporting a sculpted helmet. The drawing has the characteristic marginalia seen in Kent's architectural drawings. It is unclear, however, whether these drawings were made at the same time as the chimneypiece design, or whether they were added to the sheet later as decoration. Both chimneypiece design and marginalia are in Kent's own hand, though the color of their washes vary, suggesting the drawings may have been executed at different times. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014
Susan Weber, William Kent, designing Georgian Britain , Yale University Press, 2013, pp. 206, 207, fig. 8.28, NJ18.K364 W53 2013 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]
John Wilmerding, Essays in honor of Paul Mellon, collector and benefactor, Essays , National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC & Hanover, NH, 1986, p. 149, fig. 14, N7442.2 M455 1986 (YCBA) [YCBA]
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