A View of Windsor Castle c. 1680
Oil on canvas | 81.0 x 109.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 400599
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Vorsterman was a Dutch landscape painter, pupil in Utrecht of Herman Saftleven (1609-85), who came to England during the reign of Charles II. This view of Windsor Castle can be attributed to Vorsterman with confidence and seems likely to have been executed for Charles II. It provides an excellent example of the best and most up-to-date landscape painting of English subjects available at this date. Another half century was to elapse before the English could do anything like it for themselves (see for examples Wootton's views of Henley, RCIN 400505 and 400507).
The view of the castle is taken from the west; in the left middle-ground a wooden bridge crosses the Thames, barges are moored on either side of the river; on a track in the foreground walks a sportsman with his dogs; the town clusters on the hillside.Provenance
First recorded in store at Whitehall in 1688 (no 269); on the Staircase at Kensington Palace in 1700 (no 12); in the Queen's Dining Room there in 1710 (no 150); on the King's Staircase (also called 'Pictured Staircase') in 1720 and 1732; in the Duke of Cumberland's Apartments at St James's Palace in 1819 (no 1076); in the Prince of Wales's Bedroom at Hampton Court in 1861 (no 644)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
81.0 x 109.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
96.7 x 124.6 x 8.8 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
A View of the Tower of London