Artwork Page for Beaufort House, Chelsea

Details / Information for Beaufort House, Chelsea

Series Title: Britannia Illustrata

Beaufort House, Chelsea

1707–9
(Dutch, 1653–1722)
(Dutch, 1650–1721)
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.)
Public Domain
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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.
A horizontally oriented, hand-colored etching depicts a bird's-eye view of a sprawling riverside estate. In the blue-green water of the foreground, small sailing vessels pass a line of red-roofed buildings. A pale-walled manor house sits centrally within walled, symmetrical gardens with circular and rectangular ponds. Beyond, vast green orchards and fields stretch toward a horizon under a pale sky. An elaborate crest and calligraphic inscription border the bottom.

Beaufort House, Chelsea

1707–9

Johannes Kip, Leendert Knijff

(Dutch, 1653–1722), (Dutch, 1650–1721)
Netherlands

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