The Flemish Picture Gallery, the Mansion of Thomas Hope, Duchess Street, Portland Place

Robert William Billings

1830–51 · Watercolor · Drawings and Prints

In 1799 Thomas Hope, the famous architect, traveller and collector, purchased Duchess House, London from the Dowager Lady Warwick and set about remodelling the original Robert Adam building. The first stage was finished by 1801 then, in 1819, a Flemish Picture Gallery was added to Hope's own designs, with William Atkinson acting as builder. The fifty by twenty foot space at the rear of the house had a flat coffered ceiling and raised clerestory to light the collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings inherited from a brother Henry Philip Hope. Pictures hung on the walls, and on a mahogany screen running the length of the room equipped with hinges to allow the works to swing out, and fitted with comparments to hold books and folios of engravings. Hope designed this feature, and the rest of the furnishings, and allowed public access on Mondays during the Season (admittance obtained through recommendation or letter of reference). Billings probably made this drawing after 1833, after training under John Britton, and before 1851, when the house was demolished.

Artist

Robert William Billings

Date

1830–51

Medium

Watercolor

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1963