Claremont, by Robert Taylor Pritchett (1828–1907). 1868. Pen-and-ink. Shown at the "Drawing Esher" exhibition of R. T. Pritchett's pen-and-ink drawings, held at the Civic Offices in Esher, Surrey, 31 January - 21 September 2023. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Pritchett required permission from the Queen to sketch Claremont, but the result is not one of his best works. It suffers by comparison with his detailed close-ups of local characters and picturesque rural scenes. The idea may have been to show the house nestling in his natural surroundings, but the grand cedars at the right are not successfully visualised, and the banks of trees on the left are also shown in very rudimentary form: Pritchett does often leave the background blurred. The house itself is better viewed on its eminence, from the slope below rather than more or less on a level. The young Victoria had loved visiting her uncle Leopold at Claremont, and had enjoyed bringing her own children here. Later, it became the home of her youngest son, Prince Leopold.
Link to Related Material
Photograph, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee; photograph reproduced here by kind permission of Elmbridge Museum and the Civic Offices, Esher.
Bibliography
Nairn, Ian and Nikolaus Pevsner, rev. Bridget Cherry. The Buildings of England: Surrey. 2nd ed. London: Penguin, 1971.
Created 10 September 2023