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Lot Essay
From musical performances, to hot air ballons, to fireworks and battle reenactments, Vauxhall Gardens (later Vauxhall Royal Gardens) was one of the world’s most famous ‘pleasure gardens’ and a center of public entertainment in London for over 200 years. Opened in 1729 under the management of Jonathan Tyers, until its final closure in 1859, Vauxhall provided a place for the fashionable members of all levels of London society to see and be seen, and in the case of lovers meeting secretly on its notoriously dark paths, to remain unseen. Written about by Dickens and Thackery (it is included in a scene in Vanity Fair as well as Pendennis), in its day Vauxhall would have been something like a dream world, filled with music and art. Central to Vauxhall’s existence was music, and the present painting depicts the incredible band stand (sometimes referred to as the Orchestra), now lost, which was located at the center of the gardens.
As John Barrell notes, ‘under the management of Jonathan Tyers, property developer, impresario, patron of the arts, the gardens grew into an extraordinary business, a cradle of modern painting and architecture, and ... music .... A pioneer of mass entertainment, Tyers had to become also a pioneer of mass catering, of outdoor lighting, of advertising, and of all the logistics involved in running one of the most complex and profitable business ventures of the eighteenth century in Britain.’ The intricate gothic band stand had been rebuilt in 1758, replacing a more modest structure, and would host such musical luminaries such as Handel and Paganini during its lifetime. While music was the central attraction, as with many public events in the 18th and 19th centuries, the elegantly dressed crowd provided its own entertainment, and the pauses between musical numbers were intentionally long enough to allow patrons to circulate the gardens during the break. The marvelous sounding board above the performers, designed in the shape of a large shell supported by two caryatids, was added in 1824, bringing new meaning to the phrase ‘band shell.’
Though the appeal of the gardens had faded somewhat as the 19th century went on – the garden was no longer as ‘rural’ and idyllic as it had once seemed as the growing city grew increasingly close, George Stevens, the head gardener and proprietor, and this painting’s first owner, tried valiantly to restore it to its former glory. Unfortunately, the whims of its former patrons, difficulties in permitting as well as continual struggles with the weather (it was joked that farmers could always count on rain for the opening day of the Vauxhall season) led to its ultimate closure in July of 1859. It is this summer in which Pether situates the viewer, via a discarded poster showing the date of August 1859 – almost certainly the auction of the garden’s contents on the 22nd of that month – alongside a broken bottle on the ground at lower left.
The band stand was sold during the auction, though it has not been seen since. Its importance is underscored by the fact that it is depicted in one of only two photographs we have of the Vauxhall Gardens before their eventual destruction. The auction described the impressive structure, which was catalogued as ‘The entire erection of the elegant Circular Orchestra with minarets, leaded cupola roof, and gallery, American, Stout and Oyster Bars, with the fittings, shelves, and 2 beer engines and pipes, metal top counter, stairs frontispiece, and pipes, and machinery of organ, bellows, & 2 figures on pedestals, supporting shell sounding-board, 4 looking-glass panels, &c., &c.’ It was sold for £99, roughly two years worth of wages for the average worker at the time. David E. Coke, the great scholar of Vauxhall Gardens speculates that it is possible it may have ended up in Australia with other of the Gardens’ decorations.
The painting has remained in the family of George Stevens since its creation. It is tempting to speculate that the couple standing under the bandstand, dressed in dark clothing as if in mourning, may have been Mr. Stevens and his wife, taking one last look at their wonderland that once was.
As John Barrell notes, ‘under the management of Jonathan Tyers, property developer, impresario, patron of the arts, the gardens grew into an extraordinary business, a cradle of modern painting and architecture, and ... music .... A pioneer of mass entertainment, Tyers had to become also a pioneer of mass catering, of outdoor lighting, of advertising, and of all the logistics involved in running one of the most complex and profitable business ventures of the eighteenth century in Britain.’ The intricate gothic band stand had been rebuilt in 1758, replacing a more modest structure, and would host such musical luminaries such as Handel and Paganini during its lifetime. While music was the central attraction, as with many public events in the 18th and 19th centuries, the elegantly dressed crowd provided its own entertainment, and the pauses between musical numbers were intentionally long enough to allow patrons to circulate the gardens during the break. The marvelous sounding board above the performers, designed in the shape of a large shell supported by two caryatids, was added in 1824, bringing new meaning to the phrase ‘band shell.’
Though the appeal of the gardens had faded somewhat as the 19th century went on – the garden was no longer as ‘rural’ and idyllic as it had once seemed as the growing city grew increasingly close, George Stevens, the head gardener and proprietor, and this painting’s first owner, tried valiantly to restore it to its former glory. Unfortunately, the whims of its former patrons, difficulties in permitting as well as continual struggles with the weather (it was joked that farmers could always count on rain for the opening day of the Vauxhall season) led to its ultimate closure in July of 1859. It is this summer in which Pether situates the viewer, via a discarded poster showing the date of August 1859 – almost certainly the auction of the garden’s contents on the 22nd of that month – alongside a broken bottle on the ground at lower left.
The band stand was sold during the auction, though it has not been seen since. Its importance is underscored by the fact that it is depicted in one of only two photographs we have of the Vauxhall Gardens before their eventual destruction. The auction described the impressive structure, which was catalogued as ‘The entire erection of the elegant Circular Orchestra with minarets, leaded cupola roof, and gallery, American, Stout and Oyster Bars, with the fittings, shelves, and 2 beer engines and pipes, metal top counter, stairs frontispiece, and pipes, and machinery of organ, bellows, & 2 figures on pedestals, supporting shell sounding-board, 4 looking-glass panels, &c., &c.’ It was sold for £99, roughly two years worth of wages for the average worker at the time. David E. Coke, the great scholar of Vauxhall Gardens speculates that it is possible it may have ended up in Australia with other of the Gardens’ decorations.
The painting has remained in the family of George Stevens since its creation. It is tempting to speculate that the couple standing under the bandstand, dressed in dark clothing as if in mourning, may have been Mr. Stevens and his wife, taking one last look at their wonderland that once was.