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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
The neglect of Sir William Chambers is one of the paradoxes of English architectural history. Although he stands with Robert Adam and James Wyatt as one of the triumvirate of great architects of the second half of the eighteenth century, he has received little attention. Yet, he was not only engaged in over seventy building projects, but he also designed furniture, clocks, and the State Coach; wrote the classic architectural treatise of the century, the first book to discuss Chinese architecture seriously, and a dissertation introducing the Jardin Anglo-Chinois to Europe; was widely respected as a scholar, and was the main force behind the foundation of the Royal Academy.
1. The best summaries of his career are by Sir John Summerson in Architecture in Britain 1530–1830 (3rd ed. 1958); and by Osvald Sirén in China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century (1950).
2. RIBA Box JI/1 1–21.
3. The sketch books follow similar neo-classic interests, although of 1776 and 1779. Hardwick drew the Ecole de Chirugie in 1776.
4. Björnstahl, Jacob J., Travels in France, Italy, 1780–84, 2, 180Google Scholar; quoting a letter of 19 May, 1775.
5. Belanger's design (Fig. 22) for a ‘Pavilion de Bains’ at the Hôtel de Brancas (or de Lauraguais) is at the RIBA (another is in the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs) and is inscribed ‘ Dedie a Monsieur Williams Chambers par ton trés humble serviteur Belanger ’.
6. When the Academie Royale D'Architecture first decided to create select corresponding members in July 1762, both Chambers and Jardin received this honour (with Le Jollivet and Petitot). Cf. Procès-Verbaux De L'Academie Royale D'Architecture, VII, 96. This is also the main source for the fact of Chambers' presence in the Blondel atelier.
7. British Museum, Letter Books, Add. MS. 41134, 7V.
8. Victoria and Albert Museum, 5172. Bound in an old vellum cover, inscribed, ‘ Receuil De Divers Dessein’ and ‘Architecture and other Ornaments’.
9. Mainly a beautiful drawing of a sumptuous rococo chimney piece and of a pair of rococo andirons, both probably in the Gallery built c.1717.
10. BM Add. MS 41135, 26–26 verso.
11. No. 36, 6 verso. In addition there is a progressive design of a pyramid with semi-circular porches projecting from each face, anticipatory of the Chapelle Sepulchrale published by Jardin, in his Plans Coupes Et Elévations De L'Eglise Royale De Eréderic V … Copenhagen, 1765.Google Scholar
12. Clerk of Penicuik Papers, H.M. Register House. Edinburgh, No. 4770. In a letter of 18 April I755.
13. A discussion is not possible of an allied collection of drawings in the King's Maps of the British Museum, volume (CXXIV, Supplement) brought to my notice by Mr Howard Colvin. That these drawings are also of Chambers' provenance is partly confirmed by the inclusion of his designs for a royal palace at Richmond. The buildings represented are all Parisian ones of the 1770s and 1780s—none, however, are in Chambers' hand and only two (nos. 6 and 7) are identical to their Chambers's counterparts. The importance of this series for an expansion of our knowledge of French neo-classicism is considerable. There are: Nos 2–3, Du Barry pavilion by Ledoux; 4, Maison D'Orliane; 5, a hotel perhaps by B. Poyet; 6–7, Hotels Montmorency and Guimard; 8–10, Hotel Brunoy by Boullée, 11, Hotel Thelusson by Ledoux; 12, Hotel D'Orliane; 13–15, Hotel Brunoy; 16–18, Hotel Guimard; 19, Hotel de Due de Chatelet (by Cherpitel?); 23, unidentified hotel; 24, Hotel de Monville by Boullée; 25, Hotel de M. Alexandre; 26–27, Hotel de Monville; 30, Hotel de M. Alexandre.