Some Early Engravings of Vauxhall Gardens
with the Roubiliac Statue of Handel.
Drawn by Hubert Gravelot, engraved by G Bickham, pub. 6 June 1738.
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S. Maurer drawn and engraved 1744 showing clearly the Roubiliac statue of Handel in its original niche.
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View showing Roubiliac's Handel in its original position in the niche.
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Engraved by Johann Sebastian Muller after Samuel Wale, 1751.
showing the Roubiliac statue of Handel set forward from the original niche.
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Johann Sebastian Muller after Samuel Wale, 1751.
British Museum
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Johann Sebastian Muller after Samuel Wale, 1751.
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Engraving JS Muller after Canaletto, 1751.
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From Roque's Map of London 1746.
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A View of the
Orchestra in Vauxhall Garden’ was published as the frontispiece to J. Bew’s
Vocal Magazine (1778), from -
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Another very low res. plan of Vauxhall Gardens of 1785.
The Statue of Handel appears to be still in place.
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From Horwood's Map of London First Edition, 1792.
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Mid / late 18th Century Chinese Export Punchbowl
With a copy of the John Bowles after Samuel Wale engraving of 1751.
Winterthur Museum.
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Very low resolution plan of Vauxhall Gardens - 1826.
The statue of Handel has disappeared but the statue of Milton is still noted - number 6.
Plan Lifted from http://www.janeausten.co.uk/vauxhall-gardens/
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Low resolution scan of Vauxhall Gardens in 1832 by George Scharf (1788 - 1860).
British Library website.
I wholeheartedly recommend the British Museum website and its collection of drawings and watercolours by George Scharf, to anyone interested in the topography of London just before the advent of photography.
The majority of these drawings have not yet been digitalised.
In my opinion the finest recorder of the streets of London and its inhabitants.
He worked in England from 1816 until his death. He lived in St Martin's Lane, Charing Cross and after its demolition in Francis St, Bloomsbury.
The British Library on the other hand has some excellent examples of his work but unfortunately only available as very low res. images!
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Plan of Vauxhall Gardens from the sale catalogue of 1841. British Library.
Detail of the plan from the sale Catalogue of 1841.
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Mid 19th Century photograph of the Orchestra.
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Vauxhall Gardens - The End.
Interesting reference to the sale of "busts of eminent persons"
Possibly those illustrated in the Rotunda
Final Performance 25 July 1859.
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For a very comprehensive history and overview of Vauxhall Gardens see
For the indispensable and definitive work for anyone interested the subject of Vauxhall Gardens, 18th century pleasure gardens and mid 18th century popular culture see -
Vauxhall Gardens a History, David Coke & Alan Borg, published for the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art by Yale University Press, 2011.
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All the views above from Yale Centre for British Art.
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View of the entrance to Vauxhall Gardens.
Artist and date not located.
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