Piper, John: Dinton Folly – SOLD
£1,750.00
A beautifully composed screenprint of this extraordinary 18th century castle located in the village of Dinton, Buckinghamshire, numbered 91 from the limited edition of 100 and framed.
Dinton Castle (also known as Dinton Folly) was built by Sir John Van Hatten (1724-1787) of Dinton Hall in 1769 as an eye-catching banqueting house and showcase for his collection of ammonite fossils embedded in the limestone walls. The castle is located next to the site of an Anglo Saxon burial ground, and during the building works a large number of human remains and ancient artefacts were unearthed.
The original structure consisted 3 simple timber floors but a catastrophic fire around 1800 destroyed the wooden interior and triggered a cycle of decline. The castle lay abandoned for nearly 200 years and it was only in 1951 that its importance was recognised and it was listed as a building of special architectural and historic interest. In 2011, Aylesbury Council intervened to rescue the building from total collapse.
In 2016, the Spanish architect Jaime Fernandez transformed the ruin into a stunning two-bedroom home or miniature castle showcased by Channel 4’s ‘Grand Designs’ in 2018.
More images can be provided on request.
Artist: John Piper, (British, 1903-1992), signed and numbered in pencil in the margin
Title and date: Dinton Folly, 1983, (Levinson 367)
Size: 46.0 x 55.o cms.
Out of stock
Description
Artist description:
Born in Epsom, John Egerton Christmas Piper studied at Richmond School of Art and the Royal College of Art from 1926-8. In the mid 1930s, after a visit to Paris, he turned to abstraction. He became a member of the London Group in 1933 and the ‘Seven and Five’ group in 1934-5. During this period he became friends with Oliver Simon of the Curwen Press and his interest in lithography and print making grew. During the Second World War, Piper was appointed as an official war artist recording the effects of the blitz on Britain’s buildings. After the war, he became a Trustee of the Tate and National Galleries and in 1959 he became a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission. Piper is best known for his extensive studies of British architecture and landscape in oil, watercolour and print, and for his photography, stained glass, ceramics, fabric design, murals, stage sets and costume design. His work is held in many Museums and Galleries.