Bishopthorpe Palace, Yorkshire

Bishopthorpe Palace has been the traditional seat of the Archbishops of York since 1660 when Archbishop Frewen arrived in York to take up his post. Of Medieval structure, the original palace in the center of the present work was restored by Frewen and subsequently either altered or neglected by a string of archbishops. In a letter dated June 19, 1743 Archbishop Herring wrote to his nephew, Thomas Herring, 'Upon the whole it is a most agreeable house, and pleases me better than if it had been designed by Lord Burlington or any other genius of the age'. In 1761 Robert Hay Drummond assumed the office. A wealthy man, he appointed the Yorkshire-based architect and stonemason, Thomas Atkinson to make improvements in the fashionable Gothic style (shown on the right of the present work) for which he used some of the stone from the ruins of Cawood Castle. Today, Bishopthorpe remains much the same, the most significant alterations made since the 18th century being to the chapel which was renovated by Ewan Christian in 1892 (see G. Worsley, Bishopthorpe Palace, York, in Country Life, July 18, 1991, pp. 70-3).

Nicholas Dall, though Danish by birth, was active in England from circa 1748 painting a number of views of country houses, particularly in North Yorkshire. As Atkinson's renovations at Bishopthorpe took place between 1763-9, the present work can be dated to circa 1770.