Design for an Unidentified Town House: Elevation and Plan
Date:
ca. 1720
Materials & Techniques:
Pen and black ink with gray wash over graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 18 3/4 x 14 9/16 inches (47.6 x 37 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.2.342
Gallery Label:
James Gibbs's ground floor plan for an unidentified town house resembles the Palladian style of his contemporaries, as well as the engravings in his own influential Book of Architecture published in 1728. The front elevation is unique, however, in its strikingly plain facade punctuated by the rusticated and pedimented central range. The facade communicates the arrangement of rooms, the two principal rooms lying at the center of the building. Gibbs's style shifted in the 1720s from baroque to a more classical approach, probably in response to the prevailing Palladian taste as well as the more widespread movement toward architectural simplicity that was spreading through Europe. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2014
