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拍品专文
The present watercolour depicts a view looking eastwards along the Thames with Randall's Mill at Vauxhall on the opposite bank. The area of Millbank takes its name from the Westminster Abbey mill, which once stood at the end of what is now Great College Street. In about 1736 Sir Robert Grosvenor (1695-1755) demolished the mill and on the site built a house. Millbank was then a pleasant riverside walk leading from Westminster to Chelsea through marshy ground and market gardens. By 1816, the area would become home to Millbank Prison, with the prison closing in 1890, and Tate Britain erected in its place in 1897.
Millbank was a popular subject with watercolourists such as John Varley and David Cox, and artists often depicted the picturesque wind-blown trees along the river path. Sandby himself exhibited a 'View in Millbank, a tinted drawing' with the Free Society of Arts in 1782.
The Spread Eagle Inn was situated on the north bank of the Thames, on Millbank, just east of the New Ranelagh Road. The exact location is recorded in Laurie's New Plan of London, 1821 (see A. Lyles, 'John Varley's Thames: Varieties of Picturesque Landscapes circa 1805-1835', The Old Watercolour Society's Club, XLIII, London, 1994, pp. 1-36, fig. 13).
The present drawing is one of a pair of bodycolour drawings executed circa 1790, which were considered 'lost' until their emergence on the London art market in the 1990's. The pendant, The Spread Eagle Inn, Millbank, looking West, shows the view looking towards Battersea (see A. Lyles, op. cit., fig. 24, illustrated).
Millbank was a popular subject with watercolourists such as John Varley and David Cox, and artists often depicted the picturesque wind-blown trees along the river path. Sandby himself exhibited a 'View in Millbank, a tinted drawing' with the Free Society of Arts in 1782.
The Spread Eagle Inn was situated on the north bank of the Thames, on Millbank, just east of the New Ranelagh Road. The exact location is recorded in Laurie's New Plan of London, 1821 (see A. Lyles, 'John Varley's Thames: Varieties of Picturesque Landscapes circa 1805-1835', The Old Watercolour Society's Club, XLIII, London, 1994, pp. 1-36, fig. 13).
The present drawing is one of a pair of bodycolour drawings executed circa 1790, which were considered 'lost' until their emergence on the London art market in the 1990's. The pendant, The Spread Eagle Inn, Millbank, looking West, shows the view looking towards Battersea (see A. Lyles, op. cit., fig. 24, illustrated).