South Side of King's College Chapel, Cambridge
1815/20
Medium
Watercolor, with touches of gouache, heightened with white gouache, over graphite, on cream wove paper
Dimensions
18 × 27.3 cm (7 1/8 × 10 3/4 in.)
Classification
watercolor
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
39022
Art Historical Context
Frederick MacKenzie's *South Side of King's College Chapel Cambridge* (1815/20) offers a precise, luminous view of one of England's most iconic Gothic landmarks. Built in the 15 and 16th centuries the chapel's soaring perpendicular architecture—with its intricate fan vaults and towering buttresses—captivated early 19th-century artists amid a growing Romantic fascination with medieval heritage. MacKenzie, a skilled British topographical watercolorist, specialized in detailed studies of Cambridge's university buildings, preserving their grandeur for posterity during the Regency era. Rendered in...