Study the ‘chair’ panel behind the organist’s seat in WRE/4/1/9

WRE/4/1/10

c.1693

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Nicholas (c.1662–1736) Hawksmoor

Pen and brown ink with grey wash, with pencil under-drawing and additions. Thick laid paper. 36.8 x 46.5 cm. Watermark: Strasbourg lily WR.

A study in half-elevation for the panel of the organ ‘chair’ in WRE/4/1/9. Drawn by Hawksmoor. Datable c.1693. Implied scale, 1 ft to 1 inch. Hawksmoor’s title in brown ink at the upper left, ‘Chair Organ.’, identifies the drawing as a design for the organ panel behind the organist’s seat. This panel usually contained the smallest pipes; see WRE/4/2/6. The term was often corrupted to ‘choir organ’ (see Downes 1988b, pp.166-67). The ‘chair’ in this design is a revision of the feature in WRE/4/1/9. The projections of the chair panel and its framing elements have been increased and a vase has been added above the side pilaster to match those between the canopies. The profile of the scroll on the left is more complex and anticipates the profusion of ornament around the panel in WRE/4/2/6. The much larger ‘chair’ of the completed organ was straight rather than curved at the top and projected from the gallery by about 3 ft 6 inches on long scrolled brackets; see WRE/4/2/7, and Trevitt’s interior view of the choir in 1706 (Wren Society 14, pl.18). Hawksmoor’s inscribed dimensions ‘8’, ‘3’ and ‘5’ are the heights in inches of the basement moulding of the gallery panel, with its plinth and top moulding, but are smaller than scaled; they were increased to these dimensions in detailed designs for the gallery fronts; see WRE/4/1/11.

Access to the Wren office drawings held at London Metropolitan Archives is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Heritage Services Director, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB.

وعاء

WRE/4/2/6, WRE/4/2/7, WRE/4/2/1