{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1260382"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1260382/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GD6441/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GD6441/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GD6441","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1260382/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1260382","accessionNumber":"E.91-2013","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"View of the Cupola Room","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"William Henry Pyne was an artist, writer and publisher who produced <i>The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore</i> in three volumes between 1816 and 1819. To accompany the text of this ambitious and ruinously expensive project, Pyne commissioned well-known watercolour artists to paint one hundred scenes of the interior and exterior views of the royal residences. These illustrations were then reproduced as hand-finished aquatint plates, a type of coloured print that was very popular in the early nineteenth century. Pyne's books are today  considered an invaluable source of information about how the royal palaces appeared in 1816,  particularly for their detailed recording of interior design and furnishing.\r\n\r\nThis aquatint is taken from Pyne's chapter on Kensington Palace, which had been extensively renovated in the 1720s under the patronage of King George I. The King controversially appointed William Kent, at that time still a relatively unknown artist, to decorate the interior rooms of the palace. The reason for his appointment over the court artist Sir James Thornhill remains slightly obscure, though it was likely a combination of Kent's low prices, his Palladian aesthetics, and Thornhill's unpopularity with the Surveyor General Sir Thomas Hewett. While Kent's painting was not considered an unmitigated success, his work for the king bolstered his career and he subsequently became one of the most important designers of the eighteenth century.\r\n\r\nThe Cupola Room was the first of the rooms at Kensington Palace designed by William Kent. This view shows the impressive <i>trompe l'oeil</i> ceiling, painted to resemble coffered Roman architecture, with a Garter Star in the centre. Although there is no coherent theme to Kent's rooms in Kensington Palace, the lavish interior decoration of the Cupola Room was designed to invoke Imperial Rome. The curious spectators in this print do not appear in Cattermole's original painting, and the figures must have been added when the image was reproduced as an aquatint.","physicalDescription":"A brightly coloured print showing the Cupola Room, Kensington Palace. The print is a single tint aquatint with the remaining colours added by hand.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"William Kent","id":"A8575"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"William Pyne","id":"A30909"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Mr Richard Cattermole","id":"AUTH324003"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"This print is after an original watercolour by Richard Cattermole, reproduced in William Pyne's \"The History of the Royal Residences\", published between 1816 and 1819. The view shows a room in Kensington Palace, designed by William Kent in the 1720s."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"aquatint","id":"AAT53242"},{"text":"etching","id":"x39131"},{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2013GD6441"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"A","shelf":"149","box":"E"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Print","id":"AAT41273"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1816","earliest":"1816-01-01","latest":"1816-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"34.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"28.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Coloured print from Pyne's <i>Royal Residences</i>, showing a view of the Cupola Room, Kensington Palace, designed by William Kent.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Taken from <i>The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore</i> <i>by W. H. Pyne. Illustrated by one hundred highly finished and coloured engravings, facsimiles of original drawings by the most eminent artists,</i> published in 1819 by A. Dry, 36, Upper Charlotte-Street, Fitzroy-Square.\r\n "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Myers, Harris, <i>William Henry Pyne and his Microcosm</i>(London, 1996), pp.92-96"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Impey, Edward, <i>Kensington Palace: The Official Illustrated History</i> (London, 2003), pp.55-73"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mowl, Timothy, <i>William Kent: Architect, Designer, Opportunist</i> (London, 2006), pp.91-108"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Kensington Palace","id":"x43593"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.91-2013"],"accessionNumberNum":"91","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2013,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2012FY7482","2012FY7480","2012FY7477","2012FY7475","2012FY7473","2012FY7470","2012FY7466","2012FY7461","2012FY7460","2012FY5860","2012FV8229","2012FV0322","2012FV0164","2012FU5507","2012FU4732","2012FU4358","2012FT6458","2012FR2429","2012FR2428","2012FP6007","2012FP6002","2012FJ3467","2012FJ3275","2012FJ3149","2012FJ2987","2012FJ2807","2012FH2372","2012FH2169","2012FG9901","2012FG4258"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-02","recordCreationDate":"2013-01-28","availableToBook":false}}