Beaufort House, Chelsea

Series Title: Britannia Illustrata

1707–9

after Leendert Knijff

(Dutch, 1650–1721)

Culture

Netherlands

Medium

etching and engraving, hand colored

Measurements

Platemark: 35.9 x 49.4 cm (14 1/8 x 19 7/16 in.); Sheet: 54.3 x 64.8 cm (21 3/8 x 25 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.163

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The house and gardens portrayed in this hand-colored engraving were destroyed in 1740.

Description

This detailed view of Beaufort House in Chelsea portrays the gabled house, built in 1521, and its extensive formal gardens. Part of a large folio publication of the principal seats of the nobility in England, the Britannia Illustrata, it portrays a structure that was once the home of Sir Thomas More and that was demolished in 1740. The two Dutch artists who collaborated on this and the other topographical views in the volume, both resident in England, were exacting in their depictions of the architecture and gardens, providing valuable insight to the land and buildings of the time.