Thursday 19 March 2009

The Temple Bar at Theobalds Park


This painting shows the now-relocated Temple Bar - designed by Sir Christopher Wren - in its longtime temporary location, Theobalds Park.  The Bar, a gateway which represented the furthest extremity of the City of London to the west, was originally located at the junction of Fleet Street and the Strand.  When it was demolished in 1887 as an unacceptable obstruction to the growing traffic, it was transferred and rebuilt at this country estate between Enfield and  Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.

This painting is by Sandra Walker RI and was commissioned for the WCCA by Past Master Alan Downing.  Sandra Walker was born in America. Since moving to England in 1987, Sandra has been awarded Britain's most respected watercolour prize, the £15,000 Singer & Friedlander / Sunday Times Award for Best British Watercolour.  She was commissioned by prime minister Margaret Thatcher to paint the Houses of Parliament for the Thatcher Foundation, recently winning the Grand Prix at the late lamented Trégastel Salon International de la Peinture à l'Eau in Brittany, France.

Sandra's work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including those of Senator Edward Kennedy, John le Carré and Margaret Thatcher.  In 1999 she as elected as a member of the prestigious Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour.

Information about the painting can be had at alandowning@architects-livery.fsnet.co.uk

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