Object of the month November 2024

Kip & Knyff print of Rycote Park circa 1715.

Inscription reads: Rycott in the County of Oxford one of the seats of the Rt Hon Montague Earl of Abingdon Baron Norreys of Rycott

Inscription reads: Rycott in the County of Oxford one of the seats of the Rt Hon Montague Earl of Abingdon Baron Norreys of Rycott


The engraving shows a view of Rycote Mansion and Park. There had been a medieval manor house on the site since at least the late 13th century. The great Tudor mansion was built in the early 16th century, probably for Sir John, later 1st Baron Williams of Thame and was often visited by royalty including Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.

Johannes Kip and Leonard Knyff are known in the UK for their series of prints of great English country houses and estates, which was published as Britannia Illustrata Or Views of Several of the Queens Palaces, as Also of the Principal seats of the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain, Curiously Engraven on 80 Copper Plates, published from 1707.

Kip was born in 1653 in Amsterdam and worked as a draughtsman and engraver there before moving to London. Knyff was also Dutch, born in 1650, and although the two artists did not regularly work together they collaborated on this project with Knyff doing the drawings while Kip provided the etchings. They both died in London in 1721. 



A smaller version of the Kip and Knyff print is also on display in our current exhibition.
See below

A talk on the history of Rycote Park,
From Domesday to Now, a Journery through the History or Rycote, will be given by its owner, Sarah Taylor, on Wednesday 20th November at 7.30pm. Tickets available HERE

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