Lot Essay
This and the companion were almost certainly at Mount Stuart before the 3rd Earl of Bute left the house for London in 1746. The two may well have been purchased in the latter half of the previous decade, and were thus the first pictures Bute can be assumed to have acquired. While he and his wife lived at Mount Stuart, these must have served as poignant reminders of London, where they both wished to live. When, after their move to the south and the decoration of Cane Wood was taken in hand, Bute began to collect pictures in the London salerooms, one of the first auctions at which he is recorded as a buyer was van Aken's posthumous sale in 1749.
Covent Garden, the first planned square in London, was laid out by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, to the north of his town house, Bedford House, in the years immediately preceding the Civil War. He obtained a licence to build in 1631 and employed Inigo Jones, the King's Surveyor, as the architect. This view, taken from the east side of the Piazza, shows Inigo Jones' Church of St. Paul's, famous for its tuscan columns, which formed part of the original scheme and which was completed in 1633. The south side of the Square was originally occupied by the boundary wall of Bedford House, but in 1705-6 this was demolished when Wriothesley, 2nd Duke of Bedford, decided to make Southampton House his London home, and Tavistock Row was built. The market, which originated in the mid-1650s in the garden of Bedford House as a few temporary stalls, grew gradually during the course of the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. The column, supporting a sundial and gilt ball, was erected in 1668. In 1678, permanent shops were erected against the garden wall of Bedford House and the Square was increasingly leased to its participants' sheds, particularly after the demolition of Bedford House. The closure in 1737 of Stocks Market, its dominant competitor (for which see the following lot), gave it fresh impetus. Covent Garden was originally fashionable among rich and aristocratic families as a residential area, but the expansion of the market as well as the growth of other squares further west had altered its character by the early 18th Century, by when it had become a quarter more popular with artists, full of studios, coffee houses and auction rooms, and a centre for London's often less than salubrious night life. Many of the figures in this picture were presumably local characters who would have been recognized by contemporaries. The man on the right also appears in a number of views by Philip de Angelis. Views of Covent Garden from the west by Van Aken are in the Museum of London (J. Hayes, Catalogue of Oil Paintings in the London Museum, London, 1970, p. 21, no. A.7466), in the Government Art Collection (exhibited Tate Gallery, Manners and Morals, Hogarth and British Painting 1700-1760, 1988, no. 43) and elsewhere: the picture exhibited is apparently signed 'F' (for Frans) rather than J. van Aken.
Covent Garden, the first planned square in London, was laid out by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, to the north of his town house, Bedford House, in the years immediately preceding the Civil War. He obtained a licence to build in 1631 and employed Inigo Jones, the King's Surveyor, as the architect. This view, taken from the east side of the Piazza, shows Inigo Jones' Church of St. Paul's, famous for its tuscan columns, which formed part of the original scheme and which was completed in 1633. The south side of the Square was originally occupied by the boundary wall of Bedford House, but in 1705-6 this was demolished when Wriothesley, 2nd Duke of Bedford, decided to make Southampton House his London home, and Tavistock Row was built. The market, which originated in the mid-1650s in the garden of Bedford House as a few temporary stalls, grew gradually during the course of the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. The column, supporting a sundial and gilt ball, was erected in 1668. In 1678, permanent shops were erected against the garden wall of Bedford House and the Square was increasingly leased to its participants' sheds, particularly after the demolition of Bedford House. The closure in 1737 of Stocks Market, its dominant competitor (for which see the following lot), gave it fresh impetus. Covent Garden was originally fashionable among rich and aristocratic families as a residential area, but the expansion of the market as well as the growth of other squares further west had altered its character by the early 18th Century, by when it had become a quarter more popular with artists, full of studios, coffee houses and auction rooms, and a centre for London's often less than salubrious night life. Many of the figures in this picture were presumably local characters who would have been recognized by contemporaries. The man on the right also appears in a number of views by Philip de Angelis. Views of Covent Garden from the west by Van Aken are in the Museum of London (J. Hayes, Catalogue of Oil Paintings in the London Museum, London, 1970, p. 21, no. A.7466), in the Government Art Collection (exhibited Tate Gallery, Manners and Morals, Hogarth and British Painting 1700-1760, 1988, no. 43) and elsewhere: the picture exhibited is apparently signed 'F' (for Frans) rather than J. van Aken.