|
Date: |
|
Description: | This is one of a set of five chimney boards (of which only four survive) pained by Biagio Rebecca (1734/5-1808) for Sir John Griffin Griffin, 4th Lord Howard de Walden, 1st Lord Braybrooke to complete the remodelling and decoration of a suite of five rooms at Audley End commissioned by him from Robert Adam (1728-1792) between 1763 and 1777. A receipt dated 12 December 1769 records that Rebecca was paid: 'Twenty Guineas for painting Five Chimney Boards and mending four full length pictures'. In the eighteenth century the chimney board was the most usual means of concealing an empty fireplace during periods of disuse, while in the previous century it was common to place a vase of flowers in an empty fireplace, later it became frequent practice to depict flowers on a chimney board. The present examples are in keeping with Adam's austere classical designs for Audley End, they are painted in grisaille, in imitation of antique bas-reliefs. This example was perhaps intended for the North Parlour (or Supper Room) where 'A painted chimney stop by Rebecca' is recorded in the 1797 inventory of the house. The subject again seems appropriate to the setting: a group of figures is shown gathered round a large cooking pot set on a fire, pork and lamb are being prepared for cooking, to the left, Bacchus himself may be identified wearing a crown of vine leaves. Painted in white on a blue ground in imitation of an antique bas-relief, the colouring closely resembles the elegant designs in jasperware made by Wedgwood. The source for this chimney board's design remains untraced. | Subjects: | mythology (Bacchus) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Rebecca, Biagio (Italian painter, 1735-1808, active in Great Britain) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8737... | Go to resource |
|
|