Lambeth Palace from Millbank, London
Lambeth Palace from Millbank, London
David Cox (1783-1859)
Lambeth Palace from Millbank, London
Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour
15.1 by 24.9cm., 6 by 9 ¾ in.
Provenance:
F. Newcombe, Bristol;
With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, 2010;
Private Collection, Chicago, until 2014
This watercolour dates from the early 1820s. Cox exhibited a number of Thames views in the 1820s and 1830s when he was living in Hereford but returned to live in London from 1827 until 1841. This may be the work exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-colours in 1824, no.294, `Lambeth Palace from Mill Bank - A sketch'.
Lambeth Palace has been the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury since the 13th century. The church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, to the right of the Palace, originally dates from the 1370s but was rebuilt in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It was badly damaged in the Second World War and is now the Garden Museum. The Tudor Gatehouse to the left of the church was built by Archbishop Morton in 1486-1501 and is still used as the main entrance into the Palace. To its left is the tower of the Great Hall which has been built and rebuilt many times over the years thanks to damage in the Civil War and then in the Blitz. In the late 1820s it was converted into a library by Edward Blore