The Painting
A watercolour measuring 13½" x 9¾". Signed J. Nash and dated Jan[uary] 10[th]. Provenance:
sometime with Thomas McLean, Haymarket, London (label verso).
About the Artist
Joseph Nash (1808-1878) was born in Great Marlow, eldest son of the Revd Okey Nash
who presided over a private school at Croydon. He was educated at his father’s school
and was articled in 1829 to A.C. Pugin. In the same year he accompanied Pugin to
Paris to help in preparing drawings for Paris and its Environs (2 Vols, 1830). Nash
went on to publish The Mansions of England in Olden Times (3 Vols, from 1832) and
The Architecture of the Middle Ages (1838), in which context The Builder described
him as that ‘famous master of architectural delineation’.
Nash was elected an associate of the Old Watercolour Society in 1834 and became a
full member in 1842. He exhibited in 1831-79 at the Royal Academy (3), British Institute
(11), Old Watercolour Society (266), and New Watercolour Society (6). His paintings
are held in various public and private collections including the British Museum and
the V&A Museum. He is chiefly remembered for his interior views of the Great Exhibition
of 1851, commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (H.M. The Queen has 49
of these in her extensive collection of Nash watercolours), as well as his interior
views of the Houses of Parliament (in the collection of the Palace of Westminster).
The Subject
The Porch of a Medieval Church. The style of the architecture is identifiable as
French Gothic, probably dating from the first half of the 13th century.
