Sutton Nicholls - The Royal Hospital at Greenwich RMG PY3283

The Royal Hospital at Greenwich
This is an early architectural perspective looking south from the Thames, apparently from Sutton Nicholls's 'Prospects of the Most Considerable Buildings about London' of 1725. It is based on Wren's early designs, showing the completed Hospital - at the time only partly built - set almost as a model in an imaginary urban and parkland Greenwich landscape, itself drawn in a different perspective plane. The fact that the Queen Mary and King William Courts, in the background, are both shown with three parallel east-to-west ranges, rather than as open courtyards, relates it to the engraved 'Plan of the Greenwich Hospital for Seamen...' engraved by J. Nutting for the initial subscribers to the project in 1699 (copy in the RIBA).
Other elements not executed include the north-facing form of steps to the dome pavilions and Upper Square, the arcaded upper-floor links between the east and west wings of the King Charles and Queen Anne Courts, and the rooftop 'pergolas' over their northern pavilion junctions, here sheltering two female statues, although reputedly intended to hold those of the founders, William and Mary. The recessed river stairs were also not executed, with many other details. The absence of the statue of George II in the Grand Square confirms the date as before 1735. Shipping in the river includes a ceremonial barge, wherries and what appears from its flags to be a Dutch two-decker warship firing a salute. The full issue address is 'London Sold by John Bowles, Print & Mapseller over against Stocks Market'.

The Royal Hospital at Greenwich