Carlton Terrace, St James's Park, looking west towards The Mall

This drawing and the following two lots probably date from the early 1830s, a period when Thomas Shotter Boys was living in Paris but visiting London frequently. He was particularly fascinated by the parks and their rôle as a microcosm of London life, and this resulted in his 1842 series of lithographs London as it is. Boys was at the height of his powers in the early 1830s and his watercolours of this period are among the finest works he produced, combining a feeling of romanticism with careful detailing and a strong sense of place. Boys was clearly engaged by St. James's Park at this time as he exhibited a watercolour of Horse Guards, St. James's Park at the Society of British Artists in 1830, no. 730. He may well have been working on a series of views of the Park as another watercolour of it was with Walker's Galleries in 1935.

Other London subjects from this time include Greenwich Hospital from the Park, signed and dated 1830, and St. Alphage from the Park, Greenwich, signed and dated 1831 (J. Roundell, Thomas Shotter Boys 1803-1874, London, 1972, pls. 34 and 33 respectively). Boys also exhibited a view of Greenwich at the Society of British Artists in 1838, no. 739.

We are grateful to Charles Hind for his help in identifying the locations of this group.