Lot 54: Thomas Malton, Jun. (1748-1804)

The Banqueting House and the Privy Garden, Whitehall, London
pencil, pen and grey ink and watercolour, on the artist's washline mount
12 7/8 x 18 7/8 in. (32.8 x 48 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1796, no. 776.

Lord Nathan of Churt.
B.C. Prichard, Bayswater, London.
with Agnew's, London.

T. Malton, A Picturesque Tour through the Cities of London and Westminster, 30 October 1794, pl. 15.

Born in London, Thomas Malton Junior followed his father as an architectural artist and is best known for his careful drawings of London buildings. He entered the Royal Academy schools in 1773 where he gave drawing classes in perspective to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851).

In the foreground of the drawing can be seen the bronze statue of James II in the costume of a Russian Emperor, the work of Grinling Gibbons. It was erected at a cost of £500 in Whitehall Yard at the back of the Banqueting House and placed upon a pedestal over six feet in height on New Year's Day, 1687. The statue is now situated outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

There is an aquatint of the subject in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, but drawn from the other end of the street.

VAT rate of 17.5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.