Bryan (George)

an early Victorian drawing, seemingly after a late 17th century Dutch engraving, though with the addition of three more figures in contemporary costume to the left of the composition, the scene depicts the front elevation of the Elizabethan mansion, originally built by Sir Robert Lee, Lord Mayor of London, though known as Craven House after one of his successors and later occupant, Sir William Craven. The East India Company had been founded in 1600, first occupying rooms in the house of its Governor, Sir Thomas Smythe. In 1621 it moved to Crosby House in Bishopsgate, then to rooms in the house of the next Governor, Sir Christopher Clitherow, in Leadenhall Street, in 1638. By 1648, the business had outgrown the space available, so the company moved next door to Craven House. This depiction shows the house after 1661, when the large painted panel showing some of the company’s ships was mounted on a wooden superstructure surmounted by a wooden carving of seaman flanked by dolphins. This building was demolished in 1726 and replaced on the same site by 1729. East India house was demolished for good in 1861, a few years after the company’s possessions were all taken under the control of the government, and replaced by the original Lloyd’s Building of Lloyd’s of London,

pencil on wove paper, 200 x 150 mm. (8 x 6 in), signed lower left, dated lower right, captioned lower centre, a strip of remnant of an old tissue guard in the upper margin well above the composition,