caption

figures by George Francis Joseph, George Arnald, A View East from Edward Hussey Delaval's House in London

Photo courtesy of Dave Penman (All rights reserved)

Details

Country House
Doddington Hall
Title(s)
A View East from Edward Hussey Delaval's House in London
Date
1813
Location
Stairs Leading To Second Floor And Landing
Medium and support
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall height: 70 cm, Overall width: 90 cm
Artists
figures by George Francis Joseph (1764-1846), George Arnald (1763-1841)
Catalogue Number
DN78

Description

This is one of two views taken from an upper storey of Edward Hussey Delaval’s Thameside house, Parliament Place, Westminster. The house, which Delaval endeavoured to fire-proof with stone or composition floors and cast iron window sashes, reflected his taste for the Gothic, through embellishment with decorations cast from Gothic buildings, including nearby Westminster Abbey. John Thomas Smith, who recorded a visit to Delaval’s house in 1801 with fellow antiquarian John Carter, recalled that Delaval

‘was so pleased with this scenery, and the pencil of my friend G. Arnold [sic], Associate of the Royal Academy, that he bespoke two pictures of him, Views up and down the River, the figures of which, by the order of Mr. Delaval, were painted by his friend G.F. Joseph, A.R.A.’.1

Both pictures were exhibited by Arnald at the Royal Academy in 1813. The present work was entitled View of London from the Top of a Gentleman’s House on the Side of the Thames (396).

Edward Delaval is seated in the left foreground, with a view east towards Westminster Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral. In 1772 St Paul’s had been struck by lightning, causing Delaval to write a scientific paper for the Royal Society on the subject of the viability of different types of lightning conductors. Delaval, who towards the end of his life divided his time between Doddingon and London, died on 14 August 1814 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. George Frederick Joseph, who painted the figure in the present picture, painted a number of portraits for Edward Delaval, including his own portrait and that of his wife (DN77 and DN90). Exhibited: Royal Academy 1813 (396).

by Martin Postle

Footnotes

  1. John Thomas Smith, A Book for a Rainy Day: or recollections of the events of the last sixty-six years, London: Richard Bentley, 1845, p. 161 note.

    1

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