
William ChambersScottish, 1723–1796May one see it?
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
Design for the Casino in Marino House, County Dublin, for the 1st Earl of Charlemont from the office of leading architect and designer Sir William Chambers (1723-1796). This is a plan of the cellar storey. This design is drawn in an office hand, carefully imitating Chambers’s writing hand, and is slightly smaller than the plate in the Treatise and is either copied from the plate or from the drawings used in their preparation.
Chambers was born in Sweden and died in London. He travelled widely, visiting China, and studied architecture at the Ecole des Arts, Paris, from 1749 and in Italy from 1750 to 1755. Many of his drawings from this period are contained in his important 'Franco-Italian' album, held in the V&A. Chambers moved to London in 1755 and published his influential Treatise on Civil Architecture in 1759. Chambers demonstrated the breadth of his style in buildings such as Gower (later Carrington) House and Melbourne House, London, in such country houses as Duddingston, Scotland, and in the garden architecture he designed for Wilton House, Wiltshire, and at Kew Gardens. He became head of government building in 1782, and in this capacity built Somerset House, London.
Victoria and Albert Museum