Whitehall
Auguste Charles Pugin (1762 - 1832)
John Bluck
Thomas Rowlandson (1756 - 1827)
Coloured aquatint
published 1 December 1809-
About the work
- Location
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Country: UK
City: London
Place: Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall
In this 1809 interior view by Rowlandson and Pugin, the interior of the Banqueting House, Whitehall, is depicted here during the time it was used as the Chapel Royal. Members of the congregation listen to a sermon being delivered by a priest in the pulpit.
After most of the palace was destroyed by two fires in the 1690s, the Banqueting House, one of the few parts to survive, was refitted as a chapel by architect Sir Christopher Wren. An organ was installed on the side of the west wall and opposite it was a pulpit. Pews faced one another across a central aisle. The fashionable box pews, seen here, were rented to members of the congregation, while the less well-off sat on benches.
The building served as the Chapel Royal through to 1890, when it became a museum. In 1962 it was restored and again used as a grand reception hall.
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About the artist
Thomas Rowlandson, caricaturist and draughtsman, attended the Royal Academy Schools. After his studies he worked in watercolours and developed a style influenced by Gainsborough and French Rococo art. From 1784 he received commissions for publications and later gained the patronage of the Prince of Wales. He also produced satirical images, illustrating well-known scandals and characters. Despite gaining a substantial inheritance in 1789, by 1793 he was in poverty. However, his financial worries eased when he received commissions from Ackermann, which led to his involvement with A. C. Pugin in ‘The Microcosm of London’. Rowlandson later produced sketches for the adventures of ‘Dr Syntax’ (1812-21), also published by Ackermann.
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Explore
- Subjects
- organ, painting (as Subject), book (as subject), topography, Victorian Genre, boy, man, woman, 19th century costume, candle, plate, altar, clergyman, chapel, pulpit, ceiling, window, balcony, pew, religious/ecclesiastical interior
- Materials & Techniques
- aquatint, coloured aquatint
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Details
- Title
- Whitehall
- Date
- published 1 December 1809
- Medium
- Coloured aquatint
- Acquisition
- Purchased from Christie's, 22 January 1954
- Provenance
- With Agnew’s Gallery, London; by whom sold through Christie’s, London, 22 January 1954 (Lot 21; with GAC 2558-2582, 2584-2585); from which sale purchased by Richard Walker on behalf of the Ministry of Works
- GAC number
- 2583