Italian school (18th Century)

Artist: Italian School, 18th Century.
Title: The Royal mews, looking toward St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, C 1770.
Medium: Pen and Ink on laid paper with a crowned fleur-de-lys watermark. Notation right-hand side recto, traces of former mount.
Image Size: Height 18 cm x Width 29 cm. (Note: this item is not framed but is mated with acid-free mount board).
Condition: Very good condition, fold to centre of drawing some minor blemishes to the sheet, good clear margins around the drawing, annotation lower right-hand side.
Provenance: Private Collection London.

About: A  fine pen and Ink sketch of the Royal Mews, circa 1770, possibly a study for an etching. The modern-day location of this work is Trafalgar Square, London and the first set of stables to be referred to as mews were at Charing Cross at the western end of The Strand.

The royal hawks were kept at this site from 1377 and the name originates from the fact that they were confined there at moulting time ("mew" being derived from the French verb "muer", to moult). The structure was destroyed by fire in 1534 and rebuilt as a stable, keeping its former name.