Skip to Content
Closed today, next open tomorrow. Closed today, next open tomorrow.

  • Mon 11–5
  • Tue–Wed Closed
  • Thu 11–8
  • Fri–Sun 11–5
  • The first hour of every day, 10–11 a.m., is reserved for member-only viewing.

Drawing Room, Speke Hall, Lancashire

Date:

1874-78

Artist:

Joseph Nash
English, 1808-1878

About this artwork

Narcissa Thorne collected watercolors by Joseph Nash, including this one depicting a drawing room in Speke Hall, a historic house in Lancashire County in England. Thorne used works like this as inspiration for the Thorne Miniature Rooms. Unlike Thorne, Nash populated his watercolors with joyful figures enjoying cozy fires amid clutter suggesting relaxed, lived-in environments. Nash’s approach to these scenes, set some 200 years before his birth, was decidedly nostalgic: he referred to the 17th century as “the Olden Times” and applied a 19th century eye to the social interactions he imagined for the settings. He based some architectural elements off surviving examples, but others he took from Victorian restorations or adaptations of Renaissance interiors.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Joseph Nash

Title

Drawing Room, Speke Hall, Lancashire

Place

England (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1874–1878

Medium

Watercolor and gouache, with pen and black ink, heightened with white gouache, over graphite, on cream wove card

Dimensions

33.3 × 47.9 cm (13 1/8 × 18 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. James Ward Thorne

Reference Number

1940.917

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/39257/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.
Learn more

Image actions

Share

Suggested Terms