Exterior View of Bryan's Historic Gallery, Schomberg House, 80-82 Pall Mall

Schomberg House (nos 80-82 Pall Mall) was reconstructed (from the former Portland House) in 1698 for the third Duke of Schomberg before being divided into the three houses by the portrait painter John Astley in 1769. Different parts of the house were used for various residences and business over the following century, during which time it established a reputation for art and entertainment. It housed Dr. James Graham’s ‘Temple of Health and Hymen’, before being occupied by the artist Richard Cosway, and then Thomas Goddard on behalf of the Polygraphic Society, who installed the Coade stone figures supporting the roof of the porch and the female figure holding an artist’s palette and brushes. Thomas Gainsborough held several exhibitions of his paintings here around this time. The picture dealer Michael Bryan occupied the house from 1796 and 1804, followed by the auctioneer and poet Peter Coxe. From 1806 it became a bookshop, initially run by Thomas Payne the younger. This watercolour depicts the building during the first half of the nineteenth century. It has previously been attributed (in the Museum of London accession file) to Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, but bears little resemblance to his manner, or to the watercolour he painted of it in the collection of the London Metropolitan Archive.