Paul Sandby (1731-1809)
The Woodyard 1792
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour | 18.0 x 29.7 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 914619
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A watercolour drawing of the Woodyard in Windsor Great Park, showing some worksheds and the Master Carpenter's shop. A row of wooden sheds occupy the centre ground, with trees and chimneys behind. In the foreground are felled logs, and a man carrying planks to the right. A tree on the left. More workers are in the background with carts and baskets. Signed in pen on a log at the bottom left corner with the letters P.S. W.Y. W.P. The sheet is on a mount with grey and orange wash line borders, now faded. Inscribed on the mount in pencil, 'Scene in the Woodyard Wr Gt Pk', and with auctioneer's lot numbers at the lower left corner. Two other pencil inscriptions on the mount have been erased and are not legible. Inscribed on the verso in pencil, 'Worksheds and the Master Carpenter's shop etc. in the Woodyard in Windsor Great Park, 1792'.
The Woodyard or Carpenter's Yard was noted on a map of 1750 as immediately to the west of the dairy, very close to Thomas Sandby's house, the Deputy Ranger's Lodge, whose chimneys can be seen behind the worksheds in this drawing.The woodyard produced timber for building works across the estate, including fencing and farm machinery. It was later moved to an area later developed as the Prince Consort's workshops. The drawing is among several that Sandby made of the workshops around the woodyard in Windsor Great Park, many of which are dated 1792. He exhibited two 'Views in the Woodyard, Windsor Great Park' at the Royal Academy in 1793 (nos 541 and 603), one of which is 451587. Other views of the Woodyard in the Royal Collection are 914620, 914618, 917308, 914621 and 914613; five drawings of the woodyard in the British Museum are 1904,0819.110, 1904,0819.97, 1904,0819.120, 1904,0819.59, 1904,0819.24. Others include a watercolour sold at Sotheby's 6 July 2010 (lot 40), a watercolour in the City of Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia (inv. no. 1133), a watercolour in Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery (7a.1904) and a watercolour in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (B1975.4.1383).
Bruce Robertson has suggested that Sandby made these drawings en plein air during a period of convalescence at his brother's house (The Art of Paul Sandby, exh. cat., New Haven 1985, no. 126). Others (Sotheby's, 6 July 2010, lot 40) have seen these works as evidence of Sandby's affection for the unsung aspects of life on country estates. John Bonehill and Stephen Daniels (Picturing Britain, exh. cat., Nottingham &c 2009, p. 226) have pointed out that Sandby's concentration on the subject of the woodyard coincides with the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars and the felling of large numbers of trees for naval timber; these drawings are thus connected to wider patriotic concerns. In a letter to James Gandon, Sandby wrote that 'the majestic forests of Windsor have long since lowly bowed their heads to the adze of keen necessity, and lust of lucre', with the 'humble elm' lending 'feeble aid to battle with our enemies at sea' (Gandon 1846, p. 184). The development of the Windsor estate in this period was also seen as a sign of the country's benevolent constitution and virtuous sovereign.Provenance
Paul Sandby estate sale (Christie's, 3 May 1811, lot 12) with RCIN 914620; bought by Shepperd for George IV when Prince of Wales, £2
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
Measurements
18.0 x 29.7 cm (sheet of paper)
25.2 x 36.0 cm (mount)
Other number(s)
RL 14619Alternative title(s)
Scene in the Woodyard, Windsor Great Park
