Watercolour. 8¼ by 13 in.
The original of an engraving which is in the first volume of “Vetusta
Monumenta,” published by the Society of Antiquaries, the latter having
on it the date 1725. This building stood at the north end of King
Street and north-east corner of Downing Street, some little distance
south of the so-called Holbein or Whitehall Gate-house, and although
less ornate was of some beauty and importance, as may here be seen.
It also dated from the time of Henry VIII, and was demolished in 1723
to improve the approaches to Westminster.
George Vertue was in 1717 appointed engraver to the Society of
Antiquaries, and did many excellent engravings for them; he also,
as we see, practised in watercolour, and his literary works are of
value. He collected a mass of memoranda relating to former artists,
and this collection, now in the British Museum, having been bought
after his death by Horace Walpole, formed the basis of the latter’s
“Anecdotes of Painting in England.” Vertue lived and died a strict
Roman Catholic.
By G. VERTUE, 1723 (1684-1756).
_Lent by H.M. the King._