I thought it would be relatively easy to recreate the scene captured by Frederick Nash in c1808 but it has turned out to be quite tricky.
Between 1801 and 1809 Nash was among a number of artists who worked with antiquarians John Britton and Edward Wedlake Brayley on a series of books called The Beauties of England and Wales - Delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive of each county. In c1808 Nash made a visit to Wiltshire to capture a view of Lydiard House.
Painter and draughtsman Frederick Nash was born in Lambeth in 1782, the son of a builder. Nash was a member of both the Royal Academy of Arts and the Society of Painters in Watercolours, where between 1810 and 1856 he exhibited 472 drawings in the Water-Colour Society's exhibitions. In 1807 be became architectural draftsman to the Society of Antiquarians and was described by J.M.W. Turner as the greatest architectural artist of his time.
Nash moved to 44 Montpelier Road, Brighton in 1834 where he died at on December 5, 1856 following an attack of bronchitis. He was buried in the Extra Mural Cemetery, Brighton. In his will written in 1848 Nash bequeathed to his two executors one each of his larger oil paintings or a water colour to be selected by his wife.
So back to my comparison photographic efforts. When I get the angle of the lake correct, the house is all wrong. However, to photograph the house at the correct angle the view is obscured by trees and the perspective of the lake is wrong.
The raised platform in front of Lydiard House is less pronounced now than when Nash made his drawing more than two hundred years ago and the restored 18th century lake has more defined edges. I also wonder if cattle would have been allowed this close to the formal pleasure grounds, but hey ho, perhaps Nash employed a bit of artistic licence.
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Between 1801 and 1809 Nash was among a number of artists who worked with antiquarians John Britton and Edward Wedlake Brayley on a series of books called The Beauties of England and Wales - Delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive of each county. In c1808 Nash made a visit to Wiltshire to capture a view of Lydiard House.
Painter and draughtsman Frederick Nash was born in Lambeth in 1782, the son of a builder. Nash was a member of both the Royal Academy of Arts and the Society of Painters in Watercolours, where between 1810 and 1856 he exhibited 472 drawings in the Water-Colour Society's exhibitions. In 1807 be became architectural draftsman to the Society of Antiquarians and was described by J.M.W. Turner as the greatest architectural artist of his time.
Nash moved to 44 Montpelier Road, Brighton in 1834 where he died at on December 5, 1856 following an attack of bronchitis. He was buried in the Extra Mural Cemetery, Brighton. In his will written in 1848 Nash bequeathed to his two executors one each of his larger oil paintings or a water colour to be selected by his wife.
So back to my comparison photographic efforts. When I get the angle of the lake correct, the house is all wrong. However, to photograph the house at the correct angle the view is obscured by trees and the perspective of the lake is wrong.
The raised platform in front of Lydiard House is less pronounced now than when Nash made his drawing more than two hundred years ago and the restored 18th century lake has more defined edges. I also wonder if cattle would have been allowed this close to the formal pleasure grounds, but hey ho, perhaps Nash employed a bit of artistic licence.
