British Embassy in Paris from the Gardens

Location

Country: France
City: Paris
Place: British Embassy

In this diminutive oil painting by Heinrich Johann Luttringhausen, the Glazed Galleries of the British Embassy in Paris are depicted as they would have appeared during the period that Lord Granville Leveson-Gower served a third term as British Ambassador to France from 1835–41. The painting, inscribed in pencil 'Lord Granville' on the back, was sold at auction in London on 21 June 1984, when it was dated c.1841 and attributed to the English artist William Parrott (1813–1869). 

 

A watercolour in a private collection, reproduced by Christopher Hussey in Country Life (25 July 1957) appears to be a greater worked version of this oil painting. The watercolour, which bears the signature of Frederick Mackenzie (1787–1854), could be the original work on which the Government Art Collection painting is based. However, there are at least three watercolours with a closely similar composition by Luttringhausen, as well as a view of the embassy taken from the street.

Places

France, Paris: British Ambassador's Residence, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris

Subjects

topography, British School C19th, tree, man, woman, ambassadors & diplomats, garden, lawn, embassy, conservatory, awning, bench

Materials & Techniques

board, oil, oil painting

Artist

Johann Heinrich Luttringhausen (1783 - 1857)

Title

British Embassy in Paris from the Gardens

Date

c.1841

Medium

Oil on board

Dimensions

height: 21.50 cm, width: 27.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Christopher Gibbs, September 1984

Inscription

verso (in pencil): Lord Granville

Provenance

Sold through Bonhams, London, 'Fine 19th Century Oil Paintings and Watercolours' sale, on 21 June 1984 (Lot 40), as by W. Parrott, for £2300; with Christopher Gibbs; from whom purchased by the Government Picture Collection in September 1984

GAC number

16284