Anon. Architectural Capriccio Monumental Church Design

An original late 19th-century watercolour painting Architectural Capriccio Monumental Church Design.

This enchanting architectural capriccio, at once remarkably precise and dreamily atmospheric, is a monumental design for a religious building. Spectacularly domed and columned, the enormous scale of the building is defined by the miniscule figures to the foreground. The design recalls the magnificent Italianate architecture of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, whilst also evoking the Imperial might of a building such as Victoria Memorial Hall at Kolkata.

The identity of the drawing is unclear; perhaps it is the imaginative work of an architectural visionary, in the vein of Joseph Gandy working for John Soane, or an architect's unrealised presentation drawing. Various drawings of similarly monumental proposals can be found in the archive of the RIBA by British 19th-century architects such as John Pollard Seddon (1827–1906) and Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869), the latter of whom was labelled a 'Rogue Gothic Revivalist'.

Perhaps stylistically the drawing is most similar to the work of the designer and architectural watercolourist Alfred Charles Conrade (1863–1955): its beautifully precise pencil underdrawing enlivened with swathes of vivid gouache wash. Conrade, born in Leeds, first became known as a designer of stage scenery, before later focusing on architectural subjects in watercolour. Influenced by diverse cultural styles, he is known to have studied at the Akademie der Künstein Düsseldorf and in Madrid, Italy and Japan. He worked in Pont-Aven in the early 1880s and in Concarneau in 1884, showing his works at the Paris Salon, Dudley Gallery, London, Royal Academy, RIBA and ROI, as well as in publications such as The Architectural Review and The Builder.

The atmospheric style of painting is also evocative of the Victorian landscape painter Albert Goodwin RWS (1845–1932) (the drawing was previously catalogued as being in the manner of Goodwin), but Goodwin was not associated with fantastical architecture.

In watercolour, gouache and graphite on cream wove paper.

The drawing is presented in an elegant wash-line double mount.

Image size: 27 x 45cm. Mount size: 43 x 60.5cm.

In watercolour, gouache and graphite on cream wove paper.