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Vetusta Monumenta: Ancient Monuments, a Digital Edition

Plate 2.14: Engraving of a Plan of the Savoy

Plate 2.14 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduces an annotated ground plan of the various buildings comprising the Savoy Hospital as they stood in 1736. This plan concludes the sequence of views of these buildings presented in Plates 2.5 and 2.12. Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. 479 x 356 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1754. Current location: The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, London, UK.

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1. Plate 2.1: Engraving of Plans for Rebuilding London, 1666 (1 of 2) Plates 2.1-2.2 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce three plans for rebuilding the city of London after the great fire of 1666. The plans were originally submitted to King Charles II in September of 1666 and February of 1668 by John Evelyn and Christopher Wren. Engravings by George Vertue after the original plans by Evelyn and Wren. 478 x 355 mm and 486 x 353 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1747. Current location: Society of Antiquaries of London. Drawings: Volume 1 [196h], fols. 68-69.
2. Plate 2.2: Engraving of Plans for Rebuilding London, 1666 (2 of 2) Plates 2.1-2.2 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce three plans for rebuilding the city of London after the great fire of 1666. The plans were originally submitted to King Charles II in September of 1666 and February of 1668 by John Evelyn and Christopher Wren. Engravings by George Vertue after the original plans by Evelyn and Wren. 478 x 355 mm and 486 x 353 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1747. Current location: Society of Antiquaries of London. Drawings: Volume 1 [196h], fols. 68-69.
3. Plate 2.3: Engraving of a Portrait of George Holmes Plate 2.3 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduces a portrait (c. 1731-1733) of George Holmes, a founding member of the Society of Antiquaries and dedicated Deputy Keeper of the Tower of London. The engraving augments the original oil painting by depicting a more mature Holmes surrounded by objects symbolic of his intellectual and professional pursuits. Engraving by George Vertue after Richard van Bleeck. 332 x 215 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1750. Current location: The original portrait now hangs in the Fellows Room of the Society of Antiquaries of London, London, UK.
4. Plate 2.4: Engraving of Ancient Deeds and Seals Plate 2.4 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts two early- to mid-fourteenth-century deeds and three seals, which confirm land charters related to ecclesiastical establishments in Yorkshire. 478 x 318 mm. Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1751. Current locations: Rawlinson’s collection passed to the Bodleian Library and to St. John’s and Hertford Colleges, Oxford University, UK.
5. Plate 2.5: Engraving of a View of the Savoy from the Thames Plate 2.5 of Vetusta Monumenta is the first of three depictions of the Savoy engraved for Volume II. This plate presents a picturesque view of the Savoy Hospital from across the river Thames and records the state of the site in 1736, before it was mostly destroyed by fire in 1776. The drawing was made at the same time as the drawings for Plates 2.12 and 2.14. Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. 314 x 463 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1750. Current location: The only surviving building of the Savoy Hospital is the Hospital Chapel, now The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, London, UK.
6. Plate 2.6: Engraving of the Warrant for Beheading Charles I Plate 2.6 reproduces the death warrant dated 29 January 1649 for executing Charles I, who was publicly beheaded the following day outside of the Banqueting House at Whitehall. Handwritten on parchment and bearing fifty-nine signatures with accompanying seals, the warrant was in the possession of Charles I’s executioner from 1649 until 31 July 1660 when, following the Restoration of Charles II, the House of Lords confiscated the warrant and used it to identify the individuals who had authorized Charles I’s execution. On 1 June 1749, James West (1703-1722) alerted the Society of Antiquaries of London “that the original Instrument and order, signed and Sealed for the taking off King Charles First’s Head”—which had been housed in the Parliamentary Archives since 1660—“was to be seen,” likely as a consequence of the centennial anniversary of the regicide. Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawing. 418 x 484 mm (bifolium). Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1750. Current Location: The warrant has remained in the House of Lords Record Office in the Parliamentary Archives ever since its confiscation in 1660 (Parliamentary Archives, HL/PO/JO/10/1/297A), London, UK.
7. Plate 2.7: Engraving of Greensted Church with Objects Commemorating St. Edmund Plate 2.7 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts a range of objects that find commonality in their association with St. Edmund the Martyr. The central image of the Church of St. Andrew, Greensted, Essex, is rendered along with the burial shrine of St. Edmund and a seal fragment from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, both in Suffolk. Engraving by George Vertue after Smart Lethieullier and John Lydgate. 312 x 447 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1752. Current location: The church still stands in Greensted, Essex, UK; the shrine of St. Edmund was destroyed during the Reformation and the abbey was suppressed, but its ruins may still be seen in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, UK; the seal fragment is attached to MS Add. Charter 17226 in the British Library, London, UK.
8. Plate 2.8: Engraving of Gloucester Cross Plate 2.8 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the Gloucester Cross, framed by scaled-up images of the sculptures of English kings and queens that were located in the niches of the second story. By including the town hall and other buildings in the background and staffage figures in the foreground, the print emphasizes the civic importance of this fourteenth-century market cross. Engraving by George Vertue after Thomas Ricketts. 441 x 295 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1751. Current location: Originally in Gloucester, UK, the cross was demolished in 1751.
9. Plate 2.9: Engraving of Roman Pavements Found at Winterton and Roxby Plate 2.9 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts three fourth-century CE Roman mosaic pavements discovered in North Lincolnshire in 1699 and 1747. Figures I-III depict two large nearly intact pavements, the Ceres and Orpheus Pavements, with a related fragment, all discovered at Winterton in 1747. Figure IV shows a fragment of a large geometric mosaic discovered nearby at Roxby in 1699. Engraving by George Vertue after Charles Mitley. 441 x 591 mm (bifolium). Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1752. Current locations: Some fragments of the Orpheus Pavement are in the North Lincolnshire Museum, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, UK; the Ceres Pavement has been reconstructed and is on display at University Campus North Lincolnshire, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, UK; and fragments of the Roxby pavement remain buried in situ at Roxby, Lincolnshire, UK.
10. Plate 2.10: Engraving of Doncaster Cross Plate 2.10 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the Doncaster Cross, which was erected in honor of Otho de Tilly, land steward to the count of nearby Conisborough from about 1165 to 1188. The dense text on either side of the cross relates a brief history of Otho de Tilly, the cross itself, and the manner in which the Society acquired the painting on which this engraving is based. Engraving by George Vertue after an anonymous early seventeenth-century painting. 509 mm x 300 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1752. Current location: The original cross in Doncaster, UK, was demolished in 1792 but was replaced by a replica ex-situ the following year.
11. Plate 2.11: Engraving of Sandal Castle Plate 2.11 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts Sandal Castle as it appeared in the sixteenth century. Engraving by George Vertue after a drawing originally produced for a survey of the properties of the Duchy of Lancaster conducted by the Chancellor of the Duchy, Ambrose Cave, in 1561. Further drawings from this cache were engraved as Plates 1.39, 1.40, 1.41, 1.42, 1.44, 1.46, and 2.13. 307 x 461 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1753. Current location: The lower courses of the barbican, foundations of some of the towers, the base of the keep, and fragments of walls from the great hall and kitchen can still be seen in Sandal Magna, West Yorkshire, UK.
12. Plate 2.12: Engraving of Savoy Hospital Plate 2.12 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the prison and chapel buildings in the Savoy Hospital complex as they stood in 1736. The Hospital Chapel, depicted from two different sides in the lower half and the upper right portion of this plate, is the only Savoy building that survives today. The drawings were made at the same time as the drawings for Plates 2.5 and 2.14. Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. 459 x 334 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1753. Current location: The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, London, UK.
13. Plate 2.13: Engraving of Clithero Castle Plate 2.13 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts Clithero Castle as it appeared in the sixteenth century. Engraving by George Vertue after a drawing originally produced for a survey of the properties of the Duchy of Lancaster conducted by the Chancellor of the Duchy, Ambrose Cave, in 1561. This concludes the sequence of eight drawings of castles preserved in the Office of the Duchy of Lancaster, including Plates 1.39, 1.40, 1.41, 1.42, 1.44, 1.46, and 2.11. 317 x 466 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1753. Current location: The ruined stone keep and parts of the curtain wall remain along with buildings that were added in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Clitheroe, Lancashire, UK.
14. Plate 2.14: Engraving of a Plan of the Savoy Plate 2.14 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduces an annotated ground plan of the various buildings comprising the Savoy Hospital as they stood in 1736. This plan concludes the sequence of views of these buildings presented in Plates 2.5 and 2.12. Engraving by George Vertue after his own drawings. 479 x 356 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1754. Current location: The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, London, UK.
15. Plate 2.15: Engraving of Canterbury Cathedral and Priory with a Portrait of Eadwine (1 of 2) Plates 2.15-2.16 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce two images from a twelfth-century manuscript, the Eadwine Psalter. The first is a plan of the monastery precinct at Christ Church, Canterbury, including Canterbury Cathedral as it stood prior to 1174. The second plate reproduces an author portrait of Eadwine of Canterbury, after whom the entire manuscript is named. Engravings by George Vertue after drawings of the manuscript made at Cambridge in 1753 by an unknown draftsman. 590 x 465 mm (bifolium) and 342 x 225 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1755. Current location: The rebuilt cathedral and some architectural remains of Christ Church Priory are at Canterbury, Kent, UK; the Eadwine Psalter is at Trinity College (MS R.17.1), Cambridge University, UK.
16. Plate 2.16: Engraving of Canterbury Cathedral and Priory with a Portrait of Eadwine (2 of 2) Plates 2.15-2.16 of Vetusta Monumenta reproduce two images from a twelfth-century manuscript, the Eadwine Psalter. The first is a plan of the monastery precinct at Christ Church, Canterbury, including Canterbury Cathedral as it stood prior to 1174. The second plate reproduces an author portrait of Eadwine of Canterbury, after whom the entire manuscript is named. Engravings by George Vertue after drawings of the manuscript made at Cambridge in 1753 by an unknown draftsman. 590 x 465 mm (bifolium) and 342 x 225 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1755. Current location: The rebuilt cathedral and some architectural remains of Christ Church Priory are at Canterbury, Kent, UK; the Eadwine Psalter is at Trinity College (MS R.17.1), Cambridge University, UK.
17. Plate 2.17: Engraving of a Roman Bronze Lamp with Vase and Bells Plate 2.17 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts a Roman lamp, an amphora-style vase, and two hand bells from 1366 (left) and 1547 (right). Engraving by George Vertue (his last for Vetusta Monumenta) after his own drawings. 455 x 300 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1756. Current locations: The lamp, vase, and bell on the right are all untraced, but the bell on the left is in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London (LDSAL 133), London, UK.
18. Plate 2.18: Engraving of Two Roman Bronzes (Silenus and a Lamp)
19. Plate 2.19: Engraving of a Medieval Seal and Mantelpiece Plate 2.19 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts the third conventual seal of Canterbury Cathedral (13th century) and a segment of a wooden mantelpiece from a house in Saffron Walden featuring carved images and letters (16th century). The plate itself contains commentary on the objects in cursive script. Engraving by James Green after drawings provided by John Ward. 444 x 303 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1758. Current locations: Impressions of the seal are located at National Archives, Kew, UK, and the British Library, London, UK; the mantelpiece remains in situ in the house in Saffron Walden, Essex, UK.
20. Plate 2.20: Engraving of Bronze Age Horns with Medieval Brooch, Arm-Rings, and Shield Plate 2.20 of Vetusta Monumenta depicts two silver arm rings and three bronze horns from Ireland, a fifteenth-century buckler from Wales, and a Viking Age brooch from the Western Isles of Scotland. This engraving documents a conscious effort by the Society of Antiquaries to systematize graphic practices in antiquarian illustration. Engraving by James Basire Sr. after his own drawings. 459 x 330 mm. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1763. Current locations: The arm rings, buckler, and brooch (Canmore ID 10515) are untraced, as is the first horn. The two remaining horns (Figs. IV-V) are in the collection at Mount Edgcumbe House, Cornwall, UK.

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Plate 2.14: Plan of the Savoy Plate: Engraved by George Vertue (1684–1756) in 1754 after his own drawings, originally made in 1736 (Alexander 2008, 383). This plate follows Plates 2.5 (1750) and 2.12 (1753) as the last in a series of engravings of the Savoy Hospital complex. The drawing for this plate, a two-dimensional ground plan depicting the layout of buildings and streets at the site, was first shown before the Society of Antiquaries on 28 November 1751, after the publication of Plate 2.5 but before the drawings for Plate 2.12 were either exhibited or published. The drawing for Plate 2.14 was not taken up again by the Society until 10 January 1754, when “a motion was made and seconded that Mr. Virtue [sic] be desired to engrave the Plan of the Savoy” that was originally introduced three years earlier (SAL Minutes VII.98). This motion passed at the next meeting, on 17 January 1754, and Plate 2.14 was published later that year.

Object: The plate delineates the ground plan of buildings forming what was previously the Savoy Hospital, dedicated in 1509 to St John the Baptist and rebuilt in the very early sixteenth century following orders from Henry VII. By 1736, these buildings had taken on numerous other functions, including barracks, a prison, churches, private dwellings, a warehouse, and the King’s printing press. Most of the complex recorded in Vertue's plate was destroyed by fire in 1776; any remaining fragments were swept away after 1816 to make way for the approach to Waterloo Bridge that crosses the Thames and links Victoria Embankment with the South Bank. The only surviving building from this complex as recorded by Vertue in 1736 is the Hospital Chapel, seen on the top left of the plate. This is now The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy.

Transcription:

A PLAN of the Ground and Buildings in the STRAND, called the SAVOY, taken in the Year 1736.

G. Vertue delin. et Sculp. Publish’d according to the Act of Parliament June 20. 1754. Sumptibus Societ. Ant. Lond. 1754.

Translation:

G[eorge] Vertue, draftsman and engraver. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Preparatory Drawings: Click here to see the Preparatory Drawings for Plate 2.14.

Commentary by Peter N. Lindfield: The third of three views taken by Vertue of the former Savoy Hospital in London appears as Plate 2.14 in Vetusta Monumenta. Unlike his two earlier plates delineating the elevation of the complex from across the river Thames (Plate 2.5), and the entrance to the prison and the hospital chapel (Plate 2.12), this plate is an annotated plan of the various buildings comprising the complex. Whilst unusual in the context of Vertue’s other plates concerning the Savoy, this is a vital record of the site and its exact layout, something that architects, designers, and antiquaries have regularly acknowledged. The three-dimensionality of Vertue’s other plates recording the Savoy is continued on this plate by incorporating a trompe l’oeil banderole that presents the plate’s title, the same device employed on Plate 2.5, although it is executed in a cruder fashion here.

The practicality of a groundplan in terms of the layout and extent of the Savoy is augmented by Vertue’s inclusion of a scale on his plan of the Savoy. He included a scale for both the upper and lower scenes on his previous plate depicting the Savoy (Plate 2.12), but these scales lack metrics: unlike this one, they are essentially useless.

Plates 2.1 and 2.2 of Vetusta Monumenta are plans for the rebuilding of London following the 1666 fire, and they are also scaled; however, the large reduction in scale here makes the sizing vague at best. Vertue’s plan of the Savoy offers the potential to read off measurements far more accurately. The true value of this plate lies in Vertue’s detailed recording of what the various parts of the Hospital building were used for in 1736. It is possible to see, for example, which buildings make up the prison, barracks, private housing, and various churches. In sum, it records the changing functions of a site set up by Henry VII for the purpose of supporting the poor. Further detail of the history of the Savoy and the complex of buildings as a whole may be found in the commentary to Plate 2.5, A View of the Savoy from the River Thames.

Works Cited:
Alexander, David. 2008. “George Vertue as Engraver.” The Volume of the Walpole Society 70: 207-517.
Society of Antiquaries of London. 1718-. Minutes of the Society's Proceedings.