Attributed to Thomas Allom (1804 - 1872)
RA Collection: Art
A view of Belmont Castle, Essex from the River Thames. The castle, a neo-Gothic structure, was built for local landowner, Zachariah Button, in the late 18th century.
The drawing is attributed to Allom by its previous owner E. B. Jupp and it is similar in style to other drawings by Allom in this volume and in other collections. However, the composition is almost identical to an illustration in the History and Antiquities of Essex published by Thomas Wright (1831-36) after a drawing by W. H. Bartlett. Allom's and Bartlett's drawing styles are very similar so it is not clear whether this is Bartlett's original or a drawing after his (or after the engraving) by Allom. The two artists worked together on several publications and Allom also produced illustrations for other texts by Thomas Wright.
This work comes from one of sixteen volumes of Royal Academy Annual Exhibition catalogues that were collected and extra-illustrated by the lawyer and antiquarian Edward Basil Jupp F.S.A. (1812 - 1877). The catalogues span the period from the first annual exhibition in 1769 up to 1875. Jupp added drawings, prints, letters and autographs by, or referring to, Academicians and other exhibitors at the Academy's annual exhibition.
E.B. Jupp was a solicitor who married Eliza Kay, daughter of the architect William Porden Kay. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a clerk of the Carpenters' Company, of which he published a history. Jupp amassed a large collection of paintings by British and Dutch artists, drawings, prints, books and porcelain most of which was sold after his death, at Christie's in February 1878.
Many of the drawings in Jupp's Royal Academy extra-illustrated volumes were bought from art sales during the 1860s. He was also acquainted with a number of contemporary artists and several drawings in the later volumes (along with many of the letters and autographs) were sent from the artists themselves.
98 mm x 155 mm