Carlton House: The Blue Velvet Closet c. 1818
Watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic over pencil | 20.2 x 25.0 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 922185
Charles Wild (1781-1835)
The Blue Velvet Closet, Carlton House c. 1818
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The histories of this room and of the adjoining Blue Velvet Room are closely entwined. In the 1780s there was a dressing room and bedroom on the site of this room, with neo-classical painted decoration carried out under the direction of Henry Holland. Subsequently the two rooms were combined and a new scheme of decoration consisting of blue velvet in gilt panels, fleur-de-lis-patterned silk and carpet was installed between 1811 and 1814, in sequence with and by the same suppliers as that in the adjoining Blue Velvet Room. At the same time, a French chimneypiece was moved here from the Blue Velvet Room. In the centre stands one of a pair of Boulle marquetry tables by Thomas Parker, purchased in 1814, and either side may be seen the pair of Boulle medal-cabinets.
On the walls were hung some of George IV's extensive collection of Dutch paintings. We can partially see the hanging rhythm of one larger painting flanked by two smaller: on the left wall Ruisadael’s Landscape with Windmill (405538) is flanked by Henrick’s Pot’s family portrait of Charles I (405541); on the right wall, Cuyp’s Trooper (405321) is flanked on the left by a Wouwermans hunting party (406736). Two van der Heyden landscapes (405948 & 404950) provided the balancing works, neither visible in this image.
Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002Provenance
Presumably acquired by George IV for the library at Carlton House, c.1819
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic over pencil
Measurements
20.2 x 25.0 cm (sheet of paper)
Other number(s)
RL 22185Alternative title(s)
The Blue Velvet Closet, Carlton House.