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拍品专文
The pavilion depicted in the present watercolour was designed by Captain Francis Fowke (1823-1865), of the Royal Engineers, to house the International Exhibition of 1862. Larger than Crystal Palace, it was built at the southern end of the Royal Horticultural Society in Kensington, now the site of the Natural History museum. It was intended as a permanent exhibition building, but the principal range facing Cromwell Road, was pulled down within two years.
The present watercolour appears to be a previously unrecorded realization of the architect's design for the exhibition centre. James Roundell (Thomas Shotter Boys, London, 1974, pp. 59 and 62, no. 36) records a design on tracing paper by the artist, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, showing the same building: this includes a ground plan with measurements, and is dated 1861 and inscribed 'East of Exhibition Road if reversed' (7¾ x 25½ in.). He also records the finished watercolour, first sold at Christie's London, 4 July 1967, lot 33 (220 gns.), and exhibited at Nottingham University Art Gallery, Thomas Shotter Boys, 1803-1874 Centenary Exhibition, 1974, no.64 (see Roundell, op. cit., pp. 59 and 62, no. 36).
The present watercolour corresponds with the right hand side of the larger watercolour but was drawn closer to the building, showing a small section of the east front.
The exhibition was first intended to take place in 1861, but political uncertainties, particularly in Italy, led to its postponement until 1862. Boys was employed to make perspective drawings for the International Exhibition building as pictorial realizations of the architect's design. The style is precise and the figures touched in over the underlying architectural framework are improvised. Boys himself participated in the exhibition, showing one large watercolour Amiens, seen from the Banks of the Somme.
The present watercolour appears to be a previously unrecorded realization of the architect's design for the exhibition centre. James Roundell (Thomas Shotter Boys, London, 1974, pp. 59 and 62, no. 36) records a design on tracing paper by the artist, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, showing the same building: this includes a ground plan with measurements, and is dated 1861 and inscribed 'East of Exhibition Road if reversed' (7¾ x 25½ in.). He also records the finished watercolour, first sold at Christie's London, 4 July 1967, lot 33 (220 gns.), and exhibited at Nottingham University Art Gallery, Thomas Shotter Boys, 1803-1874 Centenary Exhibition, 1974, no.64 (see Roundell, op. cit., pp. 59 and 62, no. 36).
The present watercolour corresponds with the right hand side of the larger watercolour but was drawn closer to the building, showing a small section of the east front.
The exhibition was first intended to take place in 1861, but political uncertainties, particularly in Italy, led to its postponement until 1862. Boys was employed to make perspective drawings for the International Exhibition building as pictorial realizations of the architect's design. The style is precise and the figures touched in over the underlying architectural framework are improvised. Boys himself participated in the exhibition, showing one large watercolour Amiens, seen from the Banks of the Somme.