The Treasury, Whitehall, London: Alternate Elevations of the Facade
Date:
ca. 1733
Materials & Techniques:
Graphite, pen and black ink, and brown wash on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 8 1/2 × 17 1/4 inches (21.6 × 43.8 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.2.156
Gallery Label:
Serving as master carpenter of the King's Works, William Kent was commissioned in 1732 to rebuild the Treasury. Plans were submitted on August 2, 1733, for the new building, estimated at £8,000. The building was completed in 1736, consisting of seven bays of Kent's proposed fifteen-bay program. This drawing shows the pedimented central block of the Treasury's upper story. Four twenty-foot-high Ionic columns frame a rusticated range of three windows, the center bay having a Venetian window. It proposes two variant designs for the treatment of the balustrade that fronts the center bay and the attached columns framing the central window. The section on the right-hand side shows the front wall’s design, on both its exterior and interior. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014