William Porden (1755 - 1822)
RA Collection: Art
An architectural design showing a figure standing in a niche with a gothic canopy above. According to the artist's inscription, the canopy and the pedestal were designed for Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1777 Reynolds was commissioned to provide 'drawings or cartoons' for windows at New College, Oxford. These were to be translated into stained glass by Thomas Jervais who pioneered a new method of glass painting. Reynolds designed a central Nativity scene surrounded by figures of shepherds, angels and the Virtues. He worked on these designs between 1778 and Spring 1779. Judging from Porden's inscription, it appears that at an early stage of the project Reynolds asked him to design canopies for the figures but later decided not to use them. Porden's figure corresponds most closely to 'Faith', a design for which is in a private collection.
This work comes from one of sixteen volumes of Royal Academy Annual Exhibition catalogues that were collected and extra-illustrated by the lawyer and antiquarian Edward Basil Jupp F.S.A. (1812 - 1877). The catalogues span the period from the first annual exhibition in 1769 up to 1875. Jupp added drawings, prints, letters and autographs by, or referring to, Academicians and other exhibitors at the Academy's annual exhibition.
E.B. Jupp was a solicitor who married Eliza Kay, daughter of the architect William Porden Kay. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a clerk of the Carpenters' Company, of which he published a history. Jupp amassed a large collection of paintings by British and Dutch artists, drawings, prints, books and porcelain most of which was sold after his death, at Christie's in February 1878.
Many of the drawings in Jupp's Royal Academy extra-illustrated volumes were bought from art sales during the 1860s. He was also acquainted with a number of contemporary artists and several drawings in the later volumes (along with many of the letters and autographs) were sent from the artists themselves.
218 mm x 168 mm