Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Thomas Rowlandson, 1756–1827, British
Title:
Manuscript: Greenwich, A Town in Kent
Date:
undated
Materials & Techniques:
Pen and brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 3 5/8 × 4 7/8 inches (9.2 × 12.4 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in pen and brown ink, upper center to lower center: "GREENWICH, a town in Kent 4 Miles | Was the birth place of Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth. There | Edward the VI died. A Palace erected here by Humphry Duke of | Gloucester, who named it Placentia, was enlarged by Henry 7 | and completed by Henry the VIII. but being afterwd. suffered to ruin | was pulled down by Charles II. who began a magnificient | edifice + loved to see the first wing finished. He also enlarged | the Park walled it round, planted it. & erected a Royal Observatory | on the top of the hill. for the use of the celebrated Flamsteed, | whose name the hill retains. He likewise furnished it with | mathematical instruments for astronomical observations | & a deep dry well for observing the stars in the day time"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.1482(1)
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors-Sketchbooks
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Currently On View:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:70374