MRS. PHIPPS (BRITISH FL. CIRCA 1826)A VIEW OF BUCKINGHAM HOUSE, LONDONOil on boardInscribed (on a label on the reverse): 'By Mrs Phipps / 25' and 'For my dear / friend Lucy / Mrs. Holbech / June 1826' (on a second label)22.5 x 30.5cm (8¾ x 12 in.)In its original carved and gilded hollow frameProvenance:Given by the artist in June 1826 to Lucy (c.1781-1835), wife of William Holbech, Farnborough Hall, Warwickshire;Thence by descent;Sale, Sotheby's London, May 2, 2018, lot 83This charming painting, made in the reign of George IV, shows Buckingham House, the private residence of the Royal Family, before John Nash's renovations of 1825-30 transformed it into Buckingham Palace. The main house remains the core of today's Buckingham Palace. Mrs Phipps's view conjures up a cheerful scene with fashionable strollers in St James's Park and children playing with a dog. A troop of Life Guards, the sovereign's personal bodyguard, rides past the house on the famous 'Cavalry black' horses which are still used by the regiment today. To the left a Guards regiment is drawn up on the parade ground. Buckingham House was the second house on the spot, designed in 1703 by William Talman and Captain William Wynde for John Sheffield (1648-1721), who was created 1st Duke of Buckingham the same year. Buckingham was a favourite of James II, whose illegitimate daughter Catherine he married, and of Queen Anne. Mrs Phipps depicts the warm, red brick building with Corinthian stone pilasters. Curved galleries lead to the southern pavilion, which housed the servants, and the northern pavilion, which contained the kitchen and laundry. In 1762 George III acquired Buckingham House as a private residence for his wife Queen Charlotte and their children. St James's Palace remained the official residence of the Court, while Buckingham House became known as The Queen's House. The interiors of the cosy family home were remodelled by Sir William Chambers in a delicate, neoclassical style, with ceilings designed by Robert Adam and painted by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. In keeping with George IV's robust ideas of majesty, John Nash would turn a classical house into a flamboyant, neoclassical palace by adding a temple-like porte-cochère onto the central block and making new, much larger wings. Further alterations were made to Buckingham Palace by Edward Blore, until the east front in 1913 was given its present Portland stone façade designed by Sir Aston Webb, suitably grand for the monarchs upon whose empire the sun never set.