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Lot Essay
William Kent's important commission for Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend at Raynham Hall, Norfolk 'emphasized the symbolic character of [the] ancestral home as "old money", as the seat of the premier Norfolk family, who had owned land there since the fourteenth century'. Though no payments to Kent have been identified, on December 12, 1731, Sir Thomas Robinson wrote to Lord Carlisle, noting of Raynham that 'It has lately been sashed, and prettily ornamented in the inside by Mr. Kent'. Kent undoubtedly spent a significant amount of time at Raynham since the decoration is painted directly on the wall rather than on to canvas (which could have been executed elsewhere), although in this commission he was assisted by Thomas Ripley (d.1758), executive architect between 1727 and 1732, and craftsmen such as James Richards.
THE DESIGN
These Palladian architectural mirrors relate to drawings dated 1721-22 by Scottish architect, James Gibbs (d.1754), published in The Book of Architecture (1728), and which pre-date similar designs for overmantels and 'tabernacle' mirrors by contemporaries including E. Hoppus, The Gentleman and Builder's Repository (1737), and William Jones, The Gentlemens or Builders Companion (1739) (Compiled by E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, p. 361, plate LV; p. 324, plate 47).
Gibbs almost certainly inspired the Rome-trained artist, architect and illustrator, William Kent (d.1748), who was appointed Master Carpenter to George II's Architectural Board of Works in 1726. In 1724, Kent designed a closely related chimneypiece overmantel for his patron, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (d.1753) for Chiswick House, Middlesex that displays similar egg and dart moulding and volutes, and in circa 1724-25, an impressive pair of comparable frames for the hall at Ditchley Park, Oxon (Ed. Susan Weber, William Kent, Designing Georgian Britain, New Haven and London, 2013, p. 31, fig. 1.4; p. 153, fig. 6.4). Kent's designs for Raynham's pier and chimney mirrors are recalled in his 1730 scheme for a chimneypiece and overmantel for the North Hall of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and in J.F.Nollekens oil on canvas, 'The Nollekens Conversation Piece: The Tylney Family in the Saloon at Wanstead' (ibid., p. 206, fig. 8.28; p. 190, fig. 8.6).
Importantly, Kent's designs were the source for overmantels in Raynham's Saloon and State Bedroom, architectural furniture, and he was instrumental in creating the painted paneling of the Entrance Hall at Raynham Hall (ibid., pp. 202-205).
THE DESIGN
These Palladian architectural mirrors relate to drawings dated 1721-22 by Scottish architect, James Gibbs (d.1754), published in The Book of Architecture (1728), and which pre-date similar designs for overmantels and 'tabernacle' mirrors by contemporaries including E. Hoppus, The Gentleman and Builder's Repository (1737), and William Jones, The Gentlemens or Builders Companion (1739) (Compiled by E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1990, p. 361, plate LV; p. 324, plate 47).
Gibbs almost certainly inspired the Rome-trained artist, architect and illustrator, William Kent (d.1748), who was appointed Master Carpenter to George II's Architectural Board of Works in 1726. In 1724, Kent designed a closely related chimneypiece overmantel for his patron, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (d.1753) for Chiswick House, Middlesex that displays similar egg and dart moulding and volutes, and in circa 1724-25, an impressive pair of comparable frames for the hall at Ditchley Park, Oxon (Ed. Susan Weber, William Kent, Designing Georgian Britain, New Haven and London, 2013, p. 31, fig. 1.4; p. 153, fig. 6.4). Kent's designs for Raynham's pier and chimney mirrors are recalled in his 1730 scheme for a chimneypiece and overmantel for the North Hall of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and in J.F.Nollekens oil on canvas, 'The Nollekens Conversation Piece: The Tylney Family in the Saloon at Wanstead' (ibid., p. 206, fig. 8.28; p. 190, fig. 8.6).
Importantly, Kent's designs were the source for overmantels in Raynham's Saloon and State Bedroom, architectural furniture, and he was instrumental in creating the painted paneling of the Entrance Hall at Raynham Hall (ibid., pp. 202-205).