Lot 230: THOMAS MALTON JNR 1748-1804 A PAIR OF VIEWS OF THE ROTUNDA, RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA

two, pen and black ink and watercolour over pencil on laid paper

Quantity: 2

CATALOGUE NOTE

In 1741 Ranelagh House and Gardens, once home to Lord Ranelagh, Paymaster General to the Forces, were bought by a syndicate led by Mr Lacy, patentee of Drury Lane Theatre and Sir Thomas Robinson, M.P., and the following year they were opened as pleasure gardens. The highlight was a large rococo rotunda built by William Jones, a Surveyor to the East India Company, into which people were admitted for 12d. As seen in the present watercolours, the Rotunda was a large building measuring 150ft in diameter and it was heated in the winter by a large fireplace in the centre. Around the outside were booths where visitors could relax, drink tea and listen to the concerts which frequently took place. The Rotunda attracted the most illustrious musicians and Mozart once played there. Ranelagh Gardens were an immediate success and Horace Walpole wrote soon after they opened 'It has totally beat Vauxhall...You can't set your foot without treading on a Prince, or Duke of Cumberland.' In 1803, the rotunda was used for the last time and two years later it was demolished. The grounds are now part of Chelsea Hospital Gardens.

16.5 by 18 cm., 6 1/2 by 7 in.