Beaufort House, Chelsea (1707–9): Art, History and Details

Beaufort House, Chelsea (1707–9) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Johannes Kip (Dutch, 1653–1722); Leendert Knijff (Dutch, 1650–1721).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This detailed view of Beaufort House in Chelsea portrays the gabled house, built in 1521, and its extensive formal gardens. Part of a large folio publication of the principal seats of the nobility in England, the Britannia Illustrata, it portrays a structure that was once the home of Sir Thomas More and that was demolished in 1740. The two Dutch artists who collaborated on this and the other topographical views in the volume, both resident in England, were exacting in their depictions of the architecture and gardens, providing valuable insight to the land and buildings of the time.

Object facts

• Title: Beaufort House, Chelsea
• Date: 1707–9
• Creator attribution: Johannes Kip (Dutch, 1653–1722); Leendert Knijff (Dutch, 1650–1721)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching and engraving, hand colored
• Dimensions: Platemark: 35.9 x 49.4 cm (14 1/8 x 19 7/16 in.); Sheet: 54.3 x 64.8 cm (21 3/8 x 25 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Prints
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2020.163

A detail from the museum

The house and gardens portrayed in this hand-colored engraving were destroyed in 1740.

Collection credit

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.