1746
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Prospect of the Entrance into the Tower [of London] taken from the back of the Stone Kitchen is a 1746 watercolor by Paul Sandby, a Baroque work, depicting Tower, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
You’re looking at a watercolor of the Tower of London’s back gate, seen from behind an old stone kitchen. The sky is soft gray, the walls are warm brick, and tiny figures walk in and out like they do every day. Sandby painted this in the 1740s, when most artists were making grand, heroic scenes. He chose a quiet, everyday angle instead—almost like a snapshot. The kitchen in the foreground isn’t fancy; it’s just there, making the famous tower feel ordinary. That choice was unusual for the time. If you like this quiet way of seeing big places, look up the technique called *sfumato*.
A watercolour drawing by Paul Sandby from 1746, this work presents a view of the Tower of London as seen from the rear of the Stone Kitchen. One of Sandby’s earliest known drawings, it was submitted to the Board of Ordnance in March 1746 as a specimen of his skill in preparation for his role as draughtsman on the Military Survey in Scotland.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Paul Sandby, (1731 – 7 November 1809) was an English mapmaker and painter who specialised in landscape art. Along with his older brother Thomas Sandby, he was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768.
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