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Lot Essay
Bernard Lens III was a miniaturist and drawing master. Among his pupils were the Princesses Mary and Louisa, Horace Walpole and William, Duke of Cumberland. He was Limner to both George I and II. His work includes grey wash topographical views of London, Herefordshire, Bristol and Somerset. He was also a successful copyist in watercolour of the works of Rubens and Van Dyke.
The caves of Wookey Hole have been famous since Roman times. Carved out by the River Axe, the caverns penetrate deep into the Mendip Hills. The present album is a very early document recording the experience of visting the caves. The watercolours anticipate the taste for the sublime and the picturesque that would gather momentum throughout the rest of the 18th Century, as gentle folk ventured out into the wilds of Britain's landscape to experience nature first-hand. The poet, Alexander Pope, is recorded as visiting the caves around 1739 where he had several stalagtites blasted from the caves to use as decoration in the grotto he was building under his villa in Twickenham.
The caves of Wookey Hole have been famous since Roman times. Carved out by the River Axe, the caverns penetrate deep into the Mendip Hills. The present album is a very early document recording the experience of visting the caves. The watercolours anticipate the taste for the sublime and the picturesque that would gather momentum throughout the rest of the 18th Century, as gentle folk ventured out into the wilds of Britain's landscape to experience nature first-hand. The poet, Alexander Pope, is recorded as visiting the caves around 1739 where he had several stalagtites blasted from the caves to use as decoration in the grotto he was building under his villa in Twickenham.