Page:Catalogue of a collection of early drawings and pictures of London, with some contemporary furniture (1920).djvu/22



the seventeenth century. In 1862 what remained of the church was very much injured by fire, the roof and all the fittings being burnt. It was "restored" at a cost of about £12,000.

The interest of this drawing is due to the fact that it shows the church, with its decorated tracery and staircase turret, before the disastrous fire. Lent by Sir E. Coates.

3 BOLINGBROKE HOUSE, BATTERSEA.

Watercolour. 7 by 4-3/4 in.

The St. John family became Lords of the Manor of Battersea in the early part of the seventeenth century. Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke, retired to the manor-house when nearing the end of his career, and died there in 1751. In 1763 the manor was sold to Lord Spencer, and much of the house is said to have been pulled down not long afterwards. The remainder was enclosed in ground attached to a mill built about 1794, and it stands in the premises of the existing flour mill near the parish church, but is now dilapidated.

This old drawing represents the house much as it was a few years ago. It contained a panelled room, a good staircase, and remains of a seventeenth-century plaster ceiling still there in 1920. Lent by Mr. P. Norman.

4 OLD WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

Wash and pen drawing. 19 by 9 in.

View of the bridge and of Westminster from mid-stream. The western towers of Westminster Abbey, as shown, were completed in 1739. Among prominent buildings are Westminster Hall, St. Stephen's Chapel, and the Church of St. John the Evangelist with its four queer towers finished in 1728. In the distance is Lambeth Palace. Old Westminster Bridge, designed by the Swiss architect C. Labelye, was begun in 1738-9 and opened 18 November 1750.

Antonio Canale, the Venetian painter, usually called Canaletto, visited England in 1746, and remained about two years. During that time he produced many pictures and drawings, chiefly of London scenes. An inscription on the back of a picture of the Rotunda at Ranelagh (Nat. Gal. Cat. 1906, No. 1429) has been thought to prove that he was here in 1754.

By, c. 1747 (1697-1768). Lent by H.M. the King.