Dinsdale Manor near Darlington, Co. Durham
Dinsdale Manor near Darlington, Co. Durham
Francis Place (1647-1728)
Dinsdale Manor near Darlington, Co. Durham
Inscribed lower centre: at Dinsdale 1711
Grey wash and pencil on laid paper
17.2 by 13.5 cm., 6 ¾ by 5 ¼ in.
Provenance:
By descent from the artist to his daughter Ann;
By descent to her son Francis Parrott (c.1725-1795);
By descent to his grand-daughter Elizabeth Fraser (d.1873);
By descent to her second husband Patrick Allan-Fraser (1813-1890);
Bequeathed by him to Arbroath Art College, sold by the Trustees, Sotheby's, 10th June 1931;
Iolo Williams (1890-1962);
By descent until 2024
Literature:
Richard Tyler, Francis Place (1647-1728), exhibition catalogue, 1971, p.66, under no.74
Place was born in Dinsdale, Co. Durham, the son of Rowland Place (1616-1680). The Places were an old Yorkshire family from near Pickering who moved to Dinsdale Manor in the mid sixteenth century. Francis went to London to study law but the Plague of 1665 forced him to abandon his studies and return to York. He devoted him to drawing and became one of a group of artists and antiquaries known as the `York Virtuosi'. He recorded many local buildings in a style influenced by his friend Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677), one of the earliest topographical artists working in watercolour in this country.
Place felt a strong connection to his family home at Dinsdale and frequently returned. This drawing dates from a 1711 trip when he also visited Knaresborough and Middleham - drawings of each are in the British Museum.