Westminster from Near the Terrace of Somerset House

Canaletto, 1697–1768, Venetian, active in Britain (1746–55), Westminster from Near the Terrace of Somerset House, ca. 1750

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Creator:

Canaletto, 1697–1768

Title:

Westminster from Near the Terrace of Somerset House [2015, YCBA]

Former Title(s):

The City of Westminster from the Terrace of Somerset House [2006, Canaletto in England, a Venetian artist abroad, 1746-1755, exhibition catalogue]

The Thames from the Terrace of Somerset House, Looking toward Westminster [1998, Canaletto to Constable : paintings of town and country from the Yale Center for British Art, exhibition catalogue]

The Thames from the Terrace of Somerset House, looking upstream towards Westminster and Whitehall [1985, Cormack, YCBA Concise Catalogue]

View of the River Thames, from the Terrace of Somerset House Gardens, Looking towards Westminster Bridge [1830, Christie's sales catalogue]

Date:

ca. 1750

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

15 1/4 x 28 1/4 inches (38.7 x 71.8 cm), Frame: 21 × 34 1/2 inches (53.3 × 87.6 cm)

Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Credit Line:

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Copyright Status:

Public Domain

Accession Number:

B1976.7.97

Classification:

Paintings

Collection:

Paintings and Sculpture

Link to Frame:

B1976.7.97FR

Subject Terms:

Associated Places:

Associated People:

Jones, Inigo (1573–1652), architect and theatre designer

Access:

Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.

Link:

https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:320

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This view, upstream toward Westminster, is the pendant to Canaletto’s view in the opposite direction, downstream toward the city of London (hanging to your left). In the eighteenth century, Somerset House, formerly the official residence of dowager queens, was mostly used to accommodate foreign ambassadors. Notable landmarks on the horizon include the following (right to left): Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House; Westminster Abbey with Hawksmoor’s completed towers; the roof of Westminster Hall; the two towers of St. Stephen’s Chapel and the four towers of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Smith Square; and, finally, Westminster Bridge. The Ironmongers’ Barge is represented twice here. The Water Works at York Buildings are partially obscured by trees in the foreground.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016

This view upstream toward Westminster is the pendant to Canaletto's view in the opposite direction, downstream toward the city of London (hanging to your left). Notable landmarks on the horizon include (right to left): Inigo Jones's Banqueting House; Westminster Abbey with Hawksmoor's completed towers; the roof of Westminster Hall; the two towers of St. Stephen's Chapel; and the four towers of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Smith Square; and, finally, Westminster Bridge. The Ironmongers' Barge is here represented twice. The York Buildings Water Works are partially obscured by trees in the foreground. In the eighteenth century, Somerset House, formerly the official residence of dowager queens, was mostly used to accommodate foreign ambassadors.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005

Mrs Delany & Her Circle (Yale Center for British Art, 2009-09-24 - 2010-01-03) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Canaletto in England - A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746-1755 (Yale Center for British Art, 2006-10-19 - 2006-12-31) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (Ferrara Galleries of Modern & Contemporary Art, 2001-02-25 - 2001-05-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (The Grand Rapids Art Museum, 1999-10-22 - 2000-01-02) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art (Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1998-02-08 - 1998-04-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Charles Beddington, Canaletto in England, a Venetian artist abroad, 1746-1755 , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2006, pp. 21, 61-63, cat. no. 6, NJ18 C17 B45 2006 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Canaletto to Constable : paintings of town and country from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn., 1998, pp. 7-8, 45, pl. 10, ND1354.4 Y25 1998 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Canaletto, paintings and drawings : the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 1980-81 , Queen's Gallery (London, England), London, 1980, p. 74, NJ18 C17 C35 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christie's sale catalogue : Important pictures by old masters, the properties of Mrs. G. Arnot ... and others : 26 November 1965, Christie's, November 26, 1965, p. 35-36, 37, lot no. 69, Auction Catalogues (YCBA) [YCBA]

W. G. Constable, Canaletto : Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768., Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1976, p. 420 (v. 2), no. 429(a), Pl. .207, NJ18 C17 C65 1976 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 48-49, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Hilda F. Finberg, Canaletto in England, Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. IX, 1920-1921, p. 38, N12 W35 +A1 v.9 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Richard R. Holmes, London by Canaletto, Art Journal, vol. 56, 1894, pp. 132-33, Available online British Historical Periodicals Also available in hard copy J10 Ar74 + OVERSIZE (LSF) [ORBIS]

Mark Laird, Mrs. Delany & her circle, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009, p. 49, fig. 45, NJ18 D3774 M77 2009 + OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Le Port des Lumie`res, La peinture a` Bordeaux, 1750-1800 , vol. 1, Musee des beaux-arts de Bordeaux, 1989, p. 46, fig. 1, N6851 B6 P67 1989 (LSF) [ORBIS]

Les Ports de France de Vernet sont-ils une serie de Vedute?, Zeitschrift f r Kunstgeschichte, vol. 72, no. 4, 2009, p. 579-80, J10 Z385 2009 Bd. 72 + OVERSIZE (SML) [ORBIS]

Michael Levey, The later Italian pictures in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1991, p. 19, cat. no. 375, ND616 L48 1991 (YCBA) [YCBA]

M. J. H. Liversidge, Canaletto & England, Merrell Holberton, London, 1993, pp. 21, 43, NJ18 C17 C2 1993 (YCBA) [YCBA]

K. T. (Karl Theodore) Parker, The drawings of Antonio Canaletto in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, with an appendix to the catalogue by Charlote Crawley. , Nuova Alfa Editoriale, Bologna, 1990, p. 53, NJ18 C17 P372 1990 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Roxane Sperber, Canaletto's Colour : the inspiration and implications of changing grounds, pigments and paint applications in the artist's English period, British Art Studies, Issue 2, Spring 2016, pages are unnumbered, masthead; figs 6, 9, 14, 15, 28, Available Online (Orbis) http://dx.doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-02/rsperber-jstenger [Website]

Yale Center for British Art, Da Canaletto a Constable, vedute di citta` e di campagna dallo Yale Center for British Art : Ferrara - Palazzo dei Diamanti, 25 febbraio -20 maggio 2001 , Ferrara Arte, Ferrara, 2001, pp. 28-29, 70-72, pl. 11, ND1354.4 Y2517 2001 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

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