Lot 25: Thomas Malton Jnr. (British, 1748-1804)

The Market Place, Beverley, East Yorkshire
watercolour and pen and ink
37.5 x 53 cm. (14 3/4 x 21 in.)

In 1801 the census records that Beverley had a population of 4,500, it was a thriving market town and administrative centre for the East Riding. The beautiful parish church of St Mary's (depicted in the present work) dates from the 12th century and predates the more famous and larger Beverley Minster.

Malton also chooses to depict the coaching inns that were a vital part of the late eighteenth century transport infrastructure. These hostelries with their extensive facilities and stabling were at the apogee of their importance at the time this work was painted. The arrival of the railways then sowed the seeds of their eventual decline.