A View of the Menagerie, & its Pavilion, in the Royal Gardens at Kew

Location

Country: Spain
City: Madrid
Place: British Embassy

Thomas Sandby was born in Nottingham. He moved to London in 1741 to become a draughtsman for the Board of Ordnance. In this capacity he accompanied the Duke of Cumberland on military campaigns in Scotland and the Netherlands in the mid 1740s. The Duke was Ranger of Windsor Great Park. Sandby became his Steward in 1764 and later Deputy Ranger. He designed several buildings in the Park and was involved with the development of Virginia Water. He lived in Windsor during the late 1750s but moved to London in 1760, returning to Windsor in 1765. He was a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768 and its first Professor of Architecture. In 1777 he became Architect of the King’s Works and, in 1780, Master Carpenter in the Office of Works.
Charles Grignion the elder was born in London; the son of a watchmaker. He briefly studied in Paris, under French engraver and draftsman Jacques Philippe Le Bas, before continuing his training at Gravelot's drawing school in Covent Garden. He later worked mainly as a historical engraver and book illustrator. In 1748 he made the earliest engraving of a cricket match ‘from a Picture painted by Mr. Hayman’. He also produced architectural plates for William Chambers's ‘Designs for Chinese Buildings’ (published 1757) and for James Stuart and Nicholas Revett's ‘Antiquities of Athens’ (published 1762). In 1765 he became a member of the committee of the Society of Artists. Grignion worked into his late eighties, but died in poverty in Kentish Town.

Places

England, Surrey, London

Subjects

topography, peacock, duck, man, woman, botanic garden, menagerie, pavilion

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

Thomas Sandby (1721 - 1798)
Charles, the Elder Grignion (c.1721 - 1810)

Title

A View of the Menagerie, & its Pavilion, in the Royal Gardens at Kew

Date

1763

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Parker Gallery, June 1971

GAC number

9284