The Entrance of Westminster Hall

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Downing Street

This print shows the entrance to Westminster Hall. The two towers, which stand to either side of the arched entrance, are decorated on the exterior with statues within niches.

Westminster Hall is the most substantial surviving part of the Palace of Westminster. When first built by William II (William Rufus) in 1097, it was some 240 feet long and 40 feet high and was used as a banqueting hall. After the building was damaged by fire in 1291, it was restored by Edward II. Further alterations were made by Richard II between 1397 and 1399, when the walls were elevated by a further two feet, and a stately porch and impressive oak hammer-beam roof were installed. The hall has witnessed numerous significant historical events; Charles I was tried and condemned within it in 1649 and, four years later, Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector there. Today, it is the vestibule of the House of Commons, connected to Sir Charles Barry’s Palace of Westminster (built 1840-66) by St Stephen’s Hall.

This aquatint print was published by Rudolph Ackermann as an illustration to ‘The Microcosm of London’, a series of aquatints with accompanying texts concerned both with both the antiquities and contemporary life in London.

Thomas Rowlandson was born in London, the son of a bankrupt wool and silk merchant. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools, making a trip to Paris during his time there, and won the silver medal in 1777. During the next two decades he made several continental tours, visiting France, Italy, Germany and Holland, as well as travelling extensively in England and Wales. He exhibited from 1775 to 1787 and, in 1789, received a legacy from an aunt, which he is said to have gambled away. From 1798, much of his work was for Rudolf Ackermann, most notably his illustrations for the three Tours of Dr Syntax (published 1812, 1820, and 1821) and The Microcosm of London (1808–10). He revisited France in 1814 and Italy in about 1820. Rowland continued to work almost until the end of his life. He is most famous as a caricaturist, but his work also included figure studies, portraits, marine subjects and landscapes.
Augustus Charles Pugin fled to England in the 1790s, either because of his Royalism or on account of a duel. He seems to have landed in Wales, where he became a friend of the architect John Nash (1752–1835). He worked as a general artist, providing designs for Nash and painting scenery, before moving to London and studying at the Royal Academy Schools. He first exhibited architectural designs at the Academy in 1799 and, from 1807, began to exhibit at the Old Watercolour Society. Pugin worked on several projects for Rudolf Ackermann, including plates for The Microcosm of London and The Abbey Church of Westminster (1811–12). During this period he set up a school of architectural drawing and began to publish his own works. He was the father of A. W. N. Pugin, who designed the interiors of the Houses of Parliament.
John Bluck was an aquatint engraver, mainly of topographical views, but also of marine and sporting subjects after his contemporaries. He produced plates for numerous publications.

Places

England, London, Westminster

Subjects

sculpture (as Subject), topography, government building, hall, door, window

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

Thomas Rowlandson (1756 - 1827)
Auguste Charles Pugin (1762 - 1832)
John Bluck

Title

The Entrance of Westminster Hall

Date

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Parker Gallery, November 1971

GAC number

9419