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Works (?) Thomas Girtin

Carlton House

1790 - 1791

Print after: Charles Taylor (1756–1828), after (?) Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), engraving, 'Carlton House' for The Temple of Taste, no.16, 1 February 1796, 12.5 cm, 4 ⅞ in. Reprinted in The Public Edifices of the British Metropolis, no.13, 1820. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection Library.

Photo courtesy of Yale Center for British Art (Public Domain)

Description
Creator(s)
(?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
Title
  • Carlton House
Date
1790 - 1791
Part of
Object Type
Drawing for a Print
Subject Terms
London Architecture

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0029
Description Source(s)
The original known only from the print

About this Work

Charles Taylor’s (1756–1823) engraved view of the Prince of Wales’ rebuilt London residence, Carlton House, was published on 1 June 1796 in his periodical The Temple of Taste. The original drawing has not been traced; however, given the number of signed watercolours for the publication that survive, it is likely that it too was produced by the young apprentice Girtin. If that was the case, then he would have been required to do little more than recast one of the many simple images of the Prince’s lavishly refurbished home that were published in the periodical press at this date.

Carlton House, which roughly occupied what is now Waterloo Place, looked onto St James’s Park in one direction, but Taylor’s view shows the facade that faced Pall Mall. This was built to the design of Henry Holland (1745–1806), who worked on the building from 1784 to 1796 and added a grand Corinthian portico, which Taylor singled out for particular praise in the text that accompanied the engraving. Before the ‘front of this Palace’, he also noted, ‘is a large area for carriages’, and this in turn is bound by a colonnade of single pillars, which he thought broke the line of the building in a disagreeable way. Unlike the majority of views that included the colonnade, therefore, Taylor chose ‘a station within this colonnade, from whence the Palace may be seen clear of the impediment’.

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

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