View of Wentworth Park and Rockingham Mausoleum, 1827

William Cowen (1791 - 1864)

RA Collection: Art

A pen and ink sketch of a view on the estate of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, showing the Rockingham Mausoleum which was built in 1788 by the 1st Earl Fitzwilliam as a memorial to his uncle Charles, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham.

William Cowen was an artist from Rotherham, who was supported by local patrons, in particular the Wentworth Fitzwilliam family. Sir Thomas Lawrence and Cowen were in contact from the early 1820s and it is likely that Cowen sent these sketches to Lawrence. There is a letter in the Royal Academy Archive dated 7 June 1828 in which Cowen included three sketches of the portico of Wentworth House.

During the 1820s Lawrence painted William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (started c. 1827 but unfinished at the time of Lawrence's death; Private collection) and also Countess Fitzwilliam (post-1820; untraced) so there is probably a connection to the family and their estate through this commission. It is possible that Lawrence intended to include a view of the house in one of the portraits.