A rare, complete set of Vertue’s three engravings of the old church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which depict the historic church from the south and west, together with a plan of the building. The engraver, artist, and antiquary George Vertue (1684-1756) was born in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields and was apprenticed to two engravers in London, before establishing his own business in 1709 and continuing his artistic education under Sir Godfrey Kneller and others. His 1715 engraving of Kneller’s portrait of George I established Vertue’s reputation, and in 1717 he became a fellow of the recently re-founded Society of Antiquaries of London (which had been established in its modern form in 1707, but subsequently faltered). ‘One of the objectives of the Society was “to collect and print all accounts of Antient Monuments that come into their hands”. Initially it was easier to produce prints than printed accounts, and from the start the Society began to produce engravings, since this was perceived as a self-financing way of promoting interest in the historical buildings and objects, which were being destroyed at a great rate. [...] Because he was an engraver as well as a member, Vertue was an obvious choice as the man to engrave the plates, but it has to be emphasized that Vertue was primarily a member of the Society rather than just its engraver’ (D. Alexander, ‘George Vertue as an Engraver’, The Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 70 (2008), pp. 207-517, at p. 213). Initially, Vertue had only published engravings of non-antiquarian subjects (e.g. portraits) himself, but from the 1730s he had begun to ‘engrave prints on his own account, which were aimed at those who were interested in historic buildings or who sought information about the past’ (op. cit., p. 223).

This group of three engravings were published by Vertue, and they depict the medieval church of St Martin-in-the-Fields from the south and west, and it includes a groundplan of the church, which gives the dimensions of the church and identifies additions made in 1607 (‘The Chancell’), 1609 (‘Great west Door’), and 1669 (‘Steeple and Belfry cased with Stone’). By the beginning of the eighteenth century, however, the building was in a very parlous state, and in 1710 ‘several master craftsmen were appointed to survey the Church. They reported to the vestry: “We find That all the Walls round the said Church being built with Rubble and decayed with time are spread out by the Weight of the Roof and in all probability cannot long support the Roof and in diverse places are only tyed in with severall Cramps of Iron. Wee do also find That the Roof of the said Church is very defective. Wee are also of opinion that the said Church cannot be supported by repairing but must be rebuilt”’ (G. Gater and W.H. Godfrey (eds), Survey of London ... Volume XX: Trafalgar Square and Neighbourhood (The Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Part III) (London, 1940), p. 14). Eventually, an Act of Parliament was passed in 1720 to build a new church and, following the demolition of the old structure, work began on James Gibbs’s new church in 1722 and it was completed in 1726.

Since the engraved plan refers to the church ‘before it was pull’d down’, it is likely that the drawings of the church were made in c. 1720-1722, and this dating seems to be supported by an example of ‘The West Prospect of St. Martin’s Church’, which was sent by Vertue to Thomas Symonds (sale, ‘A Selection of Books from the Collection of Richard Hatchwell’, Bonhams New Bond Street, 6 October 2009, lot 118). In Symonds’s example, the engraved dedication, which reads ‘This Prospect of the Old Church was drawn, & is humbly inscrib’d by George Vertue a Native of the said Parish’, was amended in manuscript by Vertue to read ‘This Prospect of the Old Church is humbly inscrib’d by George Vertue a Native of the said Parish being drawn by Him on the pulling it down’. The drawings were then engraved by Vertue at some time between the demolition of the church and a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries on 26 September 1744, when ‘Mr Vertue was pleased to present the Society with 3 plats of St Martin’s Old Church’ (‘George Vertue as an Engraver’, p. 371). These three engravings were published by Vertue, and Alexander records that they were included in his catalogue of 1753 priced at 2s. 6d. for the suite of three (op. cit., p. 394). Following Vertue’s death in 1756, his widow continued to sell his engravings and in November 1775 she gave the original engraved copper plates for these three prints to Society of Antiquaries.

Individual examples from Vertue’s suite of engravings of the old church of St Martin-in-the-Fields are occasionally offered on the market, but the complete suite of three is rarely found in commerce, and this set is particularly notable for the generous margins.

--

Larger images can be seen on our website (www.typeandforme.com), where this set may also be purchased. If you would like to see high resolution images or for any enquiries, please contact us.