Westbury Court, Gloucestershire
Johannes Kip (Amsterdam c.1653 – Westminster 1722)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1712
Materials
Paper
Measurements
455 x 545 mm
Order this imageCollection
Westbury Court Garden, Gloucestershire
NT 271306
Caption
Born in Amsterdam, Johannes Kip worked at the court of William of Orange in Holland and followed his patron to England when William and Mary came to the British throne. Kip and his fellow expatriate, Leonard Knyff (1650-1722), were important topographical printmakers of the period. In 1707, their remarkable collection of highly detailed, bird’s-eye views of English country houses and estates, Britannia Illustrata, was published. The surveying and mapping techniques they adopted, also used in this engraving, give the impression that the images were taken from the air, almost eighty years before the first successful hot air balloon took to the skies. This perspective was probably designed to show off the extent of the landsowner’s estate but since so many of these houses - and especially their gardens - have been lost or dramatically changed over the centuries, these prints now provide a valuable record of the changing fashions within garden history and design.
Summary
Print engraving of Westbury Court - the seat of Maynard Colchester Esq. Drawn and engraved by Johannes Kip (c.1653 -1722) for Atkyns's Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire, 1712.
Makers and roles
Johannes Kip (Amsterdam c.1653 – Westminster 1722), engraver (printmaker)