The Moat Island, Windsor Great Park

ca. 1754

Not on view

Thomas Sandby, and his brother Paul, helped to establish watercolor as a nuanced and expressive medium associated with British art. Both worked as military surveyors until 1746, when Thomas was appointed deputy ranger of Windsor Great Park by the duke of Cumberland, George III’s younger brother. This composition resembles the artist’s designs for Eight Views of Windsor (1754–55), a set of etchings. Mote (or Moat) Park is crossed by two tributaries of the Bourne Ditch, whose fortified meeting point lends the location its name. Graphite lines were applied freely on site, then developed with colored washes that sometimes ignore sketched elements. Cows and sheep dot a lawn bordered by trees before a distant body of water.

Artwork Details

Title: The Moat Island, Windsor Great Park
Artist: Thomas Sandby (British, baptized Nottingham 1723–1798 Windsor)
Date: ca. 1754
Medium: Watercolor, pen and gray ink, over graphite
Dimensions: Sheet: 11 1/8 x 18 1/4 in. (28.3 x 46.3 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2013
Object Number: 2013.70
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Design for rock-work and cascades at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park (recto). Rock-work Designs (verso), Thomas Sandby British, Pen and ink and watercolor, over graphite — Design for rock-work and cascades at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park (recto). Rock-work Designs (verso)
Thomas Sandby
1780s (?)

Design for rock-work at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park, Thomas Sandby British, Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash, over graphite — Design for rock-work at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park
Thomas Sandby
1780s (?)

Design for rock-work at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park (recto); Two Architectural Plans (one partially cut off) (verso), Thomas Sandby British, Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash, over graphite (recto); graphite (verso) — Design for rock-work at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park (recto); Two Architectural Plans (one partially cut off) (verso)
Thomas Sandby
1780s (?)

View of the Flower Garden and Aviary at Kew, Thomas Sandby British, Watercolor — View of the Flower Garden and Aviary at Kew
Thomas Sandby
Sir William Chambers
1763

View of the Menagerie at Kew, Thomas Sandby British, Watercolor — View of the Menagerie at Kew
Thomas Sandby
Sir William Chambers
1763

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