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Sir William chambers was the foremost architect of his generation and architectural advisor to King George III. A founding member of the Royal Academy, he was placed in charge of all government buildings in his capacity as Surveyor General of the Board Works (1782). In contrast to the baroque training and interests of Vanbrugh (cat. 110) and Gibbs (cat. 111), Chambers and the neoclassical architects of his generation looked to ancient Roman architecture and archaeological findings for inspiration. In 1759 Chambers published his Treatise on Civil Architecture, a volume devoted to "sound precepts and good designs" that considered for the most part, the decorative aspects of architecture such as doors and gateways. One of these "good designs" was a doorway by the Italian architect Palladio. In a practice common at the time, Chambers showed his skill and knowledge of classical forms by adapting Palladio's design in his own work, these gateways for Thomas Brand at his country home The Hoo. This drawing gives the viewer some indication of Chambers's working process, as he has noted the thickness of the wall and the projection of the architectural elements, while more technical drawings to the left of each gateway explain the proportions and construction methods. Placed side by side , these two gateways illustrate the diversity of his practice. While the rusticated stone and the large central keystone that breaks through the entablature in the gateway on the left indicate vestigial traces of the baroque, the sleek lines of the gateway on the right announce neoclassical elegance.

Morna O'Neill

Wilcox, Forrester, O'Neil, Sloan. The Line of Beauty: British Drawings and Watercolors of the Eighteenth Century. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2001. pg. 138 cat. no. 116