Lot 217: JOSEPH CHARLES BARROW

JOSEPH CHARLES BARROW FL. 1788-1802 A VIEW OF STRAWBERRY HILL, TWICKENHAM Watercolour over pencil heightened with pen and black ink, original wash-line mount; signed l.l.: IC.B. / 1788, inscribed in pencil on the mount l.c.: A View of Strawberry Hill from the So. Field Twickenham belonging to / The Hob:bl Horace Walpole, further inscribed in pen and brown ink on the mount u.r.: No 75 Cal: page III 265 by 274 mm

Horace Walpole (1717-1797);
By descent to George, 7υth Earl Waldegrave (1816-1846), given to his wife Frances, Countess Waldegrave (1821-1879);
By descent to the present owner

Horace Walpole, 4υth Earl of Orford (1717-1797) acquired his villa at Strawberry Hill in 1748. Over the following half a century he transformed the building into a 'little Gothic castle' and filled it with a remarkable art collection.

During the 1780s Walpole commissioned a number of artists to record the house and the surrounding estate. Joseph Charles Barrow, who exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1787 and 1802, was one such artist. Another view of Strawberry Hill by Barrow, taken from almost the same view point, is included in the current Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition, Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill, no. 8.