William ChambersScottish, 1723–1796Watercolour
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Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- 7 days ago
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the work
The commission for the works at Woburn came to Chambers through personal links between patrons. In October 1767 Chambers was commissioned to rebuild the South wing after builder, surveyor and architect Stiff Leadbetter died. He also took over Leabetter's jobs at the Duke's London home, Bedford House. The wing, including a new Library and Eating room was complete in 1770. The life of these costly works was to prove short: less than eighteen years later, the 5th Duke hired Henry Holland to gut the wing completely and rebuild the interiors in a more modern style.
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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
Particulars
- Accession number
- 3375
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 7 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
