Beschreibung:

Chambers (Sir William, 1723-1796) Design for decoration and furniture of the hall at The Hyde, Ingatestone, Essex, pen and greyish-black ink, grey wash, annotated in pencil and brown ink, with additional elements added in pencil, on laid paper with partial watermark of Strasbourg lily, sheet 273 x 380 mm (10 3/4 x 14 7/8 in), slightly rough edges, minor nicks to extremities, some browning and surface dirt, unframed, [circa 1760]; together with Chamber's bookplate, and a portrait of Chambers in soft-ground etching by a young William Daniell after George Dance 1793, framed (3) Provenance: Collection of John and Eileen Harris Literature: Harris, John, Sir William Chambers Architect to George III, 1996, pp. 135-136, illus. fig. 191 cf. Harris, John, Sir William Chambers Knight of the Polar Star, 1970 Exhibited: Sir William Chambers architect to George III, 1996-7, Courtauld Gallery, London and National Museum, Stockholm, no. 151 ⁂ Fine drawing showing the 'elevation of an end of the hall', with colour notes and materials intended to be used, such as 'portland stone' and 'Dead White'. Additional pencil sketches have been added in over the pen and ink, suggesting further elements to embellish the original design. Chambers started work on the great hall at The Hyde in 1761, where he fashioned out 5 rooms that partially housed the collection of antiquities collected by Thomas-Brand Hollis, now held in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Sir William Chambers RA was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. Said to have been the major rival of Adam in British Neoclassicism. Chambers was more international in outlook (his knighthood being originally a Swedish honour) and was influenced by continental when designing for British clients. A second visit to Paris in 1774 confirmed the French cast to his sober and conservative refined blend of Neoclassicism and Palladian conventions.