Watercolour. 6¼ by 8¼ in.
Wrongly named the Fortune Play House, Golden Lane. The latter,
originally built for Henslowe and Alleyn according to contract, “the
frame to be sett square,” was destroyed by fire in 1621, and was
replaced by a fabric of circular plan soon afterwards. In 1661 its
site was advertised to be let for building.
The “Nursery,” here depicted, was a school for the education of
children for the stage, having been erected as the result of a patent
granted by Charles II to one of the Legge family. It was drawn by J.
T. Smith, who called it the Queen’s Nursery. The present watercolour
was the original of an engraving in Wilkinson’s “Londina Illustrata.”
George Shepherd devoted himself to topographical work. There are many
watercolours of old London buildings by him in the Coates and Crace
collections and elsewhere, executed from about 1792 to 1830 (his name
being thus spelt), and they are good records.
By G. SHEPHERD, 1811.
_Lent by H.M. the King._