British Embassy in Paris from the Gardens

  • About the work
    Location
    Country: France
    City: Paris
    Place: British Embassy

    In this diminutive oil painting by Heinrich Johann Luttringhausen, the Glazed Galleries of the British Embassy in Paris are depicted as they would have appeared during the period that Lord Granville Leveson-Gower served a third term as British Ambassador to France from 1835–41. The painting, inscribed in pencil 'Lord Granville' on the back, was sold at auction in London on 21 June 1984, when it was dated c.1841 and attributed to the English artist William Parrott (1813–1869). 

     

    A watercolour in a private collection, reproduced by Christopher Hussey in Country Life (25 July 1957) appears to be a greater worked version of this oil painting. The watercolour, which bears the signature of Frederick Mackenzie (1787–1854), could be the original work on which the Government Art Collection painting is based. However, there are at least three watercolours with a closely similar composition by Luttringhausen, as well as a view of the embassy taken from the street.

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  • Details
    Title
    British Embassy in Paris from the Gardens
    Date
    c.1841
    Medium
    Oil on board
    Dimensions
    height: 21.50 cm, width: 27.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Christopher Gibbs, September 1984
    Inscription
    verso (in pencil): Lord Granville
    Provenance
    Sold through Bonhams, London, 'Fine 19th Century Oil Paintings and Watercolours' sale, on 21 June 1984 (Lot 40), as by W. Parrott, for £2300; with Christopher Gibbs; from whom purchased by the Government Picture Collection in September 1984
    GAC number
    16284