No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
‘Turris Fortissima’: A Baroque Design and Drawing by John Talman (1677–1726)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 November 2011
Extract
The drawing of this astounding design is in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of London. It is in pen and ink (black and brown) with sepia and watercolour washes, with some gold added; there are some setting-out lines and underdrawing in pencil and at the foot of the drawing is a drawn scale of approximately eight feet to one inch. The drawing is executed on a wove paper which is in five pieces, the whole now mounted on linen; there appears to be nothing on the back of the paper.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1964
References
page 33 note 1 In a volume marked Drawings, Vol. I, p. 93.
page 33 note 2 e.g. Walpole Soc. vii, 3, where only the Rhineland drawings are mentioned. Honour, H., Connoisseur, cxxxiv (1954), 3Google Scholar; Summerson, J., Architecture in Britain, 1530–1830, p. 202Google Scholar; although he mentions also ‘a flamboyant North Italian Baroque design’ for a rebuilding scheme for All Souls College in the year 1708; etc.
page 33 note 3 A letter from Talman to Dr. Prideaux, Dean of Norwich, dated 19th April 1709 (i.e. immediately before his departure to Italy with William Kent) refers to his difficulties in finding a ship to carry him ‘a second time to Italy’ (Bodleian, MS. Eng. Letters, e. 34, p. 37).
page 34 note 1 Harris, J., The Hampton Court Trianon Designs of William and John Talman, J. Warburg & Courtauld Insts., xxiii, nos. 1–2 (1960).Google Scholar
page 34 note 2 See Memoir in R.I.B.A. Library (92 Pam. Q2, 15).
page 34 note 3 No. 54 in the B.M. Exhibition of the Iolo Williams Bequest (1963).
page 34 note 4 A section of a large unidentified domed church; V. & A. Prints and Drawings (92. D. 60; E. 101. 1940).
page 34 note 5 R.I.B.A. Drawings Collection: G. 2/3.
page 35 note 1 Cf. (?)asketch drawing of a church with a tower (1706) in the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute. Two drawings, one in the R.I.B.A. Collection and the other at the V. & A. Museum (formerly in the collection of Sir Augustus W. Franks) are closely related and represent stained glass, etc., in Norwich Cathedral and Upton Church, Norfolk; both are dated 1708. Before the formal and revived establishment of the Society of Antiquaries in 1717, when Talman was elected the first Director, he was supporting the embryonic Society, ‘… so early as the year 1707. Mr. Talman, Mr. Bagford and Mr. Wanley, met there [the Bear Tavern in the Strand] Nov. 5 that year, and agreed to do so every Friday, at six in the evening, and sit till ten at the farthest.’ (Archaeologia, vol. I (Introduction), p. xxv (1770).
page 35 note 2 Acquired in 1940; items of the collection (c. 300 drawings) bear dates from 1699 to 1718, but, although all come from the collections of John Talman, there are numbers of drawings not from his hand, including some by N. Hawksmoor. Further volumes of drawings from the same collection were acquired, at the same time, by the Ashmolean Museum. For a summary list of the V. & A. acquisition see V. & A. Mus., Dept. E.I.D. and Paintings, Accessions 1940 (published 1953), pp. 47–49. This collection and that of the Ashmolean probably came originally through the sale of the effects of George Vertue in 1757 (see Cat. of the Sale, B.M. Prints & Drawings Dept., A. I, 1. and 10. S.C.).
page 36 note 1 The records of the Society of Antiquaries show that certain lots were bought in by George Vertue, acting on behalf of the Society, from the collections of John Talman, at the sale of 1727, soon after his death; the sum paid by the Society for this material was £9. 9s. 6d. (MS. Minutes (General), vol. 1, 14th and 26th April 1727).