Research
Oil on canvas.
Provenance:
Collection of Mr. Lennox Money, London
Collection of Gail Salomon, 20 Avenue Foch, Paris
Illustrated:
John Harris, The Artist and the Country House: A History of Country House and Garden View Painting 1540-1870, London (revised edition 1985), 79, p. 80.
This painting, of unusually large scale, depicts the entrance front of the great house of Denham Place, Buckinghamshire and has been attributed to the artist Peter Hartover. It can be dated on the grounds of stylistic comparison with other of Hartover’s works to around 1675, records the appearance of Denham Place after the addition of a vast façade by Sir William Bowyer (1612-79) in the 1650s and before its rebuilding by Sir Roger Hill from 1688.
This magnificent picture represents an outstanding example of a form of house painting, which was at this date still in the early stages of its development. In the late 17th century families began to commission such paintings either from pride in their possessions, as a depiction of major architectural alterations or as a record of an old family home before its replacement by a newer building.
Full research available on request.