The Hundred Steps, Windsor Castle c. 1770 - c. 1800
Watercolour and bodycolour | 43.7 x 58.1 cm (sight) | RCIN 451578
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A bodycolour drawing of the Hundred Steps on the north front of Windsor Castle, looking up towards Winchester Tower. With groups of figures climbing the steps, and animals and children at the foot of the steps. A man loading a cart with several horses. The drawing was included in the Inventory of Pictures in the Lord Chamberlain's Department (no. 810) and was removed from a stretcher and remounted in the Royal Library in 1870.
The 'Hundred Steps' provided pedestrian access from the town to the north side of the Lower Ward from the medieval period. Beginning at a gatehouse on Thames Street, the steps emerge into the Canon's cloister. They were rebuilt in the nineteenth century and are no longer open to the public. Sandby made several drawings of the steps, populated with townsfolk making use of the pathway. Another version of the composition in watercolour is RCIN 914572, and another version in bodycolour with similar figures is in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (NGI 2577). The composition appears in a print series by Sandby published in 1780 as models for students to colour (for example, RCINs 814325 and 820868.c), for which there is also a pencil drawing in the Royal Collection (RCIN 914571). Sandby also made drawings of the upper part of the steps (RCIN 914574 and a bodycolour version in the Nottingham Castle Museum).Sandby often made several versions of the same subject in both bodycolour and watercolour, and there is also a watercolour version of the Hundred Steps in the Royal Collection (RCIN 914572).
Provenance
Paul Sandby estate sale, 2 May 1811, lot 79 ('A View of the Old Hundred Steps at Windsor Castle, on panel') bought 'Shepperd' for the Prince of Wales, £3 17s
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour and bodycolour
Measurements
43.7 x 58.1 cm (sight)
70.7 x 87.9 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)
RL 14573