Lot Essay
In 1800 Leslie went with his parents to live in Philadelphia where he studied under George Sully. He returned to London in 1817 and studied at the Royal Academy Schools, being elected a full academician in 1826. He was Professor of the Royal Academy from 1847 to 1852. He was a great favourite of Queen Victoria's and painted for her Queen Victoria Receiving the Sacrament and The Christening of the Princess Royal. (For an example of an interior of Petworth by Leslie at the Tate Gallery see C. Gere, Nineteenth-Century Decoration, London, 1989, p.81, pl.78).
Many of the original furnishings and fittings of Queen Caroline's bedroom survived at the time when this view was painted, and some still survive today. In Leslie's view one of the paintings is hung in such a way as to obscure two others behind it, an idiosyncratic method of hanging which defies explanantion. The portraits are now dispersed throughout other rooms, but the bedchamber curtains and the white and gold curtains in the room beyond are preserved. The large blue-and-white lidded jar, possibly an example of the Dutch Delft ware favoured by William and Mary which featured conspicuously in the view of the Queen's Gallery sold in these Rooms, 17 November 1994, lot 37 has disappeared. Most intriguing is the device for unlocking the door, in which a system of wires and pulleys was activated by a silken cord hanging by the huge state bed. It can just be seen in the painting and in the newly restored room, which is part of the suite of private apartments that have been furnished and fitted as they were in 1737, the date at which the Court last took up residence in Cardinal Wolsey's majestic palace by the Thames.
Many of the original furnishings and fittings of Queen Caroline's bedroom survived at the time when this view was painted, and some still survive today. In Leslie's view one of the paintings is hung in such a way as to obscure two others behind it, an idiosyncratic method of hanging which defies explanantion. The portraits are now dispersed throughout other rooms, but the bedchamber curtains and the white and gold curtains in the room beyond are preserved. The large blue-and-white lidded jar, possibly an example of the Dutch Delft ware favoured by William and Mary which featured conspicuously in the view of the Queen's Gallery sold in these Rooms, 17 November 1994, lot 37 has disappeared. Most intriguing is the device for unlocking the door, in which a system of wires and pulleys was activated by a silken cord hanging by the huge state bed. It can just be seen in the painting and in the newly restored room, which is part of the suite of private apartments that have been furnished and fitted as they were in 1737, the date at which the Court last took up residence in Cardinal Wolsey's majestic palace by the Thames.