Balthasar Nebot (active London, 1730-1765)

This picture is one in a series of nineteen views that Nebot painted to record the focal points of the estates of Studley Royal, Fountains Hall, and Kirby Fleetham, near Ripon, Yorkshire. At Studley Royal the Aislabie family created arguably the most important water garden in England in the 18th century. The estate was inherited by John Aislabie, who in 1718 embarked on an ambitious scheme for the gardens. He created the celebrated Water Gardens, with fantastic vistas and elaborate formal designs inspired by French water gardens, such as the elegant parterre at Chantilly. His only son, William Aislabie, probably commissioned the series of paintings from Nebot to which the present work belongs.