In the Taylorian Institute in Oxford, there survive twelve drawings of Rococo chimneypieces and overmantels. These constitute a small fragment of Taylor’s prolific architectural output, and together with a volume of sketches and designs for monuments, and another dealing with various geometric and perspective problems, are almost all that remains of what was known on his death to have been a comprehensive corpus of his work. What happened to the remainder is a mystery. A tiny handful of other drawings have been found, including, importantly, one of the dining room at Trewithen House in Cornwall, as well as of the stone bridge at Maidenhead. Combined with these, are the surviving examples from the brief period when Rococo was in fashion and which formed the focal point of his interiors in the 1750s and early 1760s. Drawing room, Asgill (above) Dining room, Asgill (right) These would include Asgill House in Richmond, Barlaston Hall in Staffordshire, Trewithen as previously mentioned, together with two examples that came to the market in the last twenty-five years - an attractive but modest marble one and another large stone version of the Asgill dining room mantel (see below). Fortuitously, there are some black and white photographs of the interior of 35, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, taken in 1912 as part of a survey of the district carried out by London County Council. Those reveal that there were three pure English Rococo chimneypieces present, one in the front room of the ground floor, one in the middle room on the first floor, and a large stone one, incongruously, in the basement kitchen. From the positioning of the example at Asgill, and as planned in the drawing for Trewithen, it is clear this style of chimneypiece would have been in the dining room initially.
In the Taylorian Institute in Oxford, there survive twelve drawings of Rococo chimneypieces and overmantels. These constitute a small fragment of Taylor’s prolific architectural output, and together with a volume of sketches and designs for monuments, and another dealing with various geometric and perspective problems, are almost all that remains of what was known on his death to have been a comprehensive corpus of his work. What happened to the remainder is a mystery. A tiny handful of other drawings have been found, including, importantly, one of the dining room at Trewithen House in Cornwall, as well as of the stone bridge at Maidenhead. Combined with these, are the surviving examples from the brief period when Rococo was in fashion and which formed the focal point of his interiors in the 1750s and early 1760s. Drawing room, Asgill (above) Dining room, Asgill (right) These would include Asgill House in Richmond, Barlaston Hall in Staffordshire, Trewithen as previously mentioned, together with two examples that came to the market in the last twenty-five years - an attractive but modest marble one and another large stone version of the Asgill dining room mantel (see below). Fortuitously, there are some black and white photographs of the interior of 35, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, taken in 1912 as part of a survey of the district carried out by London County Council. Those reveal that there were three pure English Rococo chimneypieces present, one in the front room of the ground floor, one in the middle room on the first floor, and a large stone one, incongruously, in the basement kitchen. From the positioning of the example at Asgill, and as planned in the drawing for Trewithen, it is clear this style of chimneypiece would have been in the dining room initially.
Sir_Robert_Taylor_Chimneypiece.docx