The Ballroom of a Pavilion erected at The Oaks, Surrey, for a Fête Champêtre given by Lord Stanley on June 9th, 1774
Robert Adam (Kirkcaldy 1728 - London 1792)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1774
Materials
Pen and grey wash on paper
Measurements
586 x 728 mm
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 267153
Summary
Pen and grey wash drawing, The Ballroom of a Pavilion erected at The Oaks, Surrey, for a Fête Champêtre given by Lord Stanley on June 9th, 1774 by Robert Adam (Kirkaldy 1728 - London 1792), and/or Joseph Bonomi (Rome 1739 - London 1808), 1774. The 42,000-square-foot ballroom designed by Robert Adam to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Edward Smith-Stanley (1752-1834), Lord Stanley, and Lady Elizabeth Hamilton (1753-97) was one of the grandest temporary buildings of the eighteenth century. It was a temporary D-shaped building, presumably made of wood and canvas, that contained a central ballroom, a supper room curving around the ballroom, and small tea rooms at each end. It was the venue for a magnificent fête champêtre (an elaborate type of garden party) which Horace Walpole reported cost Lord Stanley £5,000 (nearly half a million pounds in today's money). Joseph Bonomi was Adam's finest draughtsman and colourist, and this drawing was probably produced under Adam's supervision by Bonomi with assistance from other draughtsmen. The drawing probably served as a record of the event for publication. By 1774, Robert Adam had nearly completed his remodelling of Derby House in Grosvenor Square for Lord Stanley, who was to become the Earl of Derby in 1776, and shortly afterwards, he began redesigning The Oaks as a castle, which was never completed.
Provenance
O. Alexander; purchased by Colnaghi, 15 June 1943 from whom purchased by Brinsley Ford, 16 June 1943 (£20) and by descent to Augustine Ford. Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Augustine Ford and allocated to the National Trust for Osterley, 2023.
Makers and roles
Robert Adam (Kirkcaldy 1728 - London 1792), architect Joseph Bonomi (Rome 1796 – London 1878), draughtsman
References
Ford 1998 Brinsley Ford, John Ingamells, Francis Russell, John Christian, Nicholas Penny, Jennifer Montagu, Howard Coutts, Timothy Wilson & Dudley Dodd, The Ford Collection – II, Walpole Society, Vol. 60, 1998, pp. 91-376, RBF209 Garnett 2015: Oliver Garnett, At Home with Art Treasures from the Ford Collection at Basildon Park, National Trust, 2015, p. 12-13