This watercolour was prepared for one of the plates from William Henry Pyne's 'History of the Royal Residences' (1816-1819). It shows the inside of a new kitchen block, which Sir John Vanbrugh was commissioned to build at St James's Palace in 1717 for the household of George, Prince of Wales. The modern kitchen comprised a generously lit cooking space flanked by smaller spaces housing pantries and sculleries. Whilst Vanbrugh was erecting this kitchen at St James's, his rivals William Benson and Colen Campbell were building the so-called 'German Kitchen' for George I at Hampton Court.