Horse Guards Parade

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Downing Street

The contraption to the left of the foreground in this work is a sluice-gate, a wooden plate which slides through grooves into a channel of water (in this case an underground channel), controlling the flow of the water. The purpose of this sluice-gate may be to regulate the water level of the lake in St James’s Park, which can just be seen to the right of the painting.

John Chapman was a painter who specialised in architectural views. He exhibited at the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy between 1772 and 1778. Little else is known of him. This painting is attributed to him on the basis of its similarity in style to a painting of Birdcage Walk, which is signed by Chapman.

Places

England, London, Horse Guards, Downing Street, Whitehall: Kent's Treasury Building, Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall

Subjects

horseback, hoop-rolling, topography, genre, townscape/cityscape, tree, dog, horse, man, woman, 18th century costume, dress, military uniform, boots, child, flag, parade, cannon, rifle (military), soldier, church

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

John Chapman

Title

Horse Guards Parade

Date

c.1760

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 89.50 cm, width: 135.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Oscar & Peter Johnson, July 1977

Provenance

Collection of Lieutenant Colonel H. W. Lloyd; by whom sold through Sotheby's, London, 'Important English Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings' sale, on 19 November 1969 (Lot 29), as 'The Horse Guards Parade' by Samuel Scott, for £3400; from which sale purchased by Leger Galleries, London; with Oscar & Peter Johnson, London; from whom purchased by the Department of the Environment in July 1977

GAC number

13335