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View of the Queen's Theatre from the Rotunda at Stowe, Buckinghamshire

1733–34
Not on view
This washed ink drawing shows elegantly dressed members of the English aristocracy walking through Stowe garden (Buckinghamshire), admiring one of its numerous classical buildings. The drawing forms part of a series made by the French topographical draftsman Jacques Rigaud (1681–1754), published in print form in Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire, London, 1739. Charles Bridgeman (died 1738) was the main landscape architect of this transitional period from formal gardening to informal landscape design. He worked at Stowe from 1715 to 1726, collaborating with the architect Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726), close friend of the owner Richard Temple, first viscount Cobham. Proud of his work, in 1733 Bridgeman asked Rigaud to come to England to create a detailed record of the estate, the widespread publication of which instantly made Stowe into England's most influential landscape garden. Rigaud's drawings give a good impression of the semi-natural layout typical for early landscape design, still carefully balancing wild pasture with traditional geometrical sections. Stowe underwent various subsequent transformations, the final phase of which still forms the basis of today's park.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: View of the Queen's Theatre from the Rotunda at Stowe, Buckinghamshire
  • Artist: Jacques Rigaud (French, Marseilles 1681–1754 Paris)
  • Date: 1733–34
  • Medium: Pen and ink, brush and wash
  • Dimensions: 11 5/8 x 19 1/2 in. (29.5 x 49.5 cm.)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1942
  • Object Number: 42.79(7)
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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A General Plan and Prospective of Lord Viscount Cobham's Gardens at Stowe, Jacques Rigaud French, Pen and ink, brush and wash (fourteen drawings), one etching
A General Plan and Prospective of Lord Viscount Cobham's Gardens at Stowe
Jacques Rigaud
Charles Lewis
1733–34
Veue du Chateau de St. Cloud du Costé de l'Orangerie (View of the Chateau of St. Cloud from the Orangerie Side)
Jacques Rigaud
1730
Vue de la Grande Façade du Vieux Louvre, Jacques Rigaud French, Etching
Vue de la Grande Façade du Vieux Louvre
Jacques Rigaud
originally published 1729, inscribed 1752
Autre Vue Particulière de Paris depuis Nôtre Dame, Jusques au Pont de la Tournelle, Jacques Rigaud French, Etching
Autre Vue Particulière de Paris depuis Nôtre Dame, Jusques au Pont de la Tournelle
Jacques Rigaud
1729
Vue du Parterre du Château de Rambouillet
Jacques Rigaud
n.d.

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