George Godfroid Winckler after Robert Sayer.

[Perspective View of Whitehall] Vue Perspective a Londres de l'Admirauté du nouveau Batiment pour les Gardes a Cheval, Whitehall.

15.5 x 12 inches

An etching with vibrant original hand colour; engraved by Winckler after Sayer and published in Augsburg circa 1760.

Here we have a fascinating and early view of one of London's most important streets in the early C18th transposed from a drawing in London to an etched plate in Germany. There is a simplicity to the perspective but we can see both the Admiral's House and the newly rebuilt entrance to the Horse Guards, designed by William Kent in the Palladian style and constructed in the 1750s-60s. Only the royal family were permitted to travel through the central arch and there was much ridicule at how impractically low this archway was. Fashionable carriages and a sedan chair add to the impression that this is an elegant thoroughfare. The strong lines of perspective and deliberate use of red and green paints remind us that this print was intended to be seen through a view-finder or zograscope giving it a dramatic and three dimensional appeal.