“Gatehouse at Rye House, Hertfordshire” by JMW Turner – Rye Gate House, Herts, UK - Paintings Then and Now on Waymarking.com

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born at some time in 1775 to a barber and wig maker. As a young man turner worked for several architects, his early works depicting architectural scenes. In 1789 he entered the Royal Academy of Art, and in 1790 his first watercolour painting of the Archbishop’s Palace, Lambeth was accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition. He exhibited his first oil painting, Fishermen at Sea, in 1796. The painting was well received and established Turner’s reputation as an oil painter and a painter of maritime subjects.

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The gatehouse is all that remains of Rye House, one of the first brick buildings in the country. The house was constructed in 1443 by Sir Andrew Ogard, an ex patriot Dane. Of particular interest is the quality of the hand made brickwork, including the barley twist chimney stacks, the oriel windows and diaper work. The brickwork is of such high quality for the time it is believed that the brickwork would have been performed by master craftsmen from Belgium. Whilst the original manor house has disappeared, the plan of the buildings has been marked out by pathwork in the grounds.

Rye House is famous for an assassination attempt on Charles II and his brother the Duke of York. The house would be on the route the King regularly took to Newmarket racecourse. The plan had been to block the road on one of the King’s return trips and kill the party. The plot, however failed when the King returned early from the races after a fire at his estate in Newmarket. The plot was discovered after one of the conspirators confessed, hoping for clemency. Several of the conspirators were executed at the time, however Richard Rumbold, the owner of Rye House, escaped to Holland. Richard Rumbold was later captured in the Scottish rebellion and executed as a traitor.

In the 19th century Rye House was turned into a successful Victorian pleasure park, but later fell into decline as the railways became widespread. It later became a workhouse, a construction yard and even a roller skating rink. In the 1950s the house was gutted by fire. Lee Valley Regional Park Authority restored the building between 1971 and 1992.

The painting, graphite and watercolour on paper and dated to about 1793, can be seen on the Tate website.

Website of painting. Exact URL of painting is required: [Web Link] Artist: JMW Turner Date of Painting: 01/01/1793 Date of Your Photograph: 05/13/2015 Medium of Painting: Graphite and watercolour on paper

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