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1 of 253523 objects
The Maids of Honour Tower from the Black Rod c. 1767
Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour | 58.6 x 46.2 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 914561
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A pen and ink and watercolour drawing of the King Edward III or Maids of Honour Tower, Windsor Castle, seen from the Black Rod. On the left, the buildings of the Quadrangle are visible. In the foreground, a couple are leaning against a low wall. Another pair of men, less elegantly dressed, is in the lower right corner. A cottage in shade is on the right. A woman descending some steps at the centre. The sheet is mounted on a grey and pink wash line bordered mount, probably trimmed and of a type associated with works sold at the Paul Sandby estate sale, 1811. Inscribed on the mount on the verso in pencil in a mid-twentieth century hand, 'Part of Windsor Castle from the Black Rod 1767'.
There is an etching of the same view by Sandby (for example, British Museum 2007,7074.1), with different figures, that was apparently never published. Part of the drawing was used in another view of the Round Tower, also in the Royal Collection (RCIN 914565), acquired by Sir Joseph Banks. The upright format is unusual for Sandby, and the drawing was possibly made on the spot. There is a companion drawing in the Royal Collection (RCIN 914720), also upright in format, on the same paper, and similar in treatment.
The buildings of the Black Rod are seen before George III's improvements in the 1780s to enlarge the area between the Castle and the Queen's Lodge creating a vista towards the Round Tower. In the eighteenth century the King Edward III Tower was known as the Devil's Tower, or the Maids of Honour Tower as it was used by the ladies attendant on the Royal Family.Provenance
Paul Sandby (sale, Christie's 2 May 1811, lot 26, with RCIN 914720); purchased by Colnaghi (1 gn) for the Prince Regent (later King George IV); by descent
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Medium and techniques
Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour
Measurements
58.6 x 46.2 cm (sheet of paper)
60.0 x 47.4 cm (mount)
Other number(s)
RL 14561