16th Sep, 2026 12:00
London | Ancient & Modern
59
THOMAS MANN BAYNES (BRITISH 1794-1854)
THREE VIEWS OF THE LONDON ZOO: (I) THE BEAR PITT; (II) THE BEAVER'S POOL; (III) THE PELICANS' ENCLOSURE, circa 1835
each signed and inscribed on the reverse
each watercolour and pencil heightened with white on paper
(i) 11 x 19cm; (ii) 12 x 21.5cm; (iii) 11 x 19cm; (32.5 x 82cm framed together)
Provenance
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
Sale, Lawrence's, Crewkerne, 6th July 2012, lot 138
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
There can be few more appealing records of London's Zoological Gardens than the watercolours and lithographs produced by Thomas Mann Baynes in the years immediately following its foundation. Born in 1794 to the watercolourist James Baynes, from whom he acquired both his facility and his profession, Baynes made a successful career from topography at precisely the moment lithography was transforming its economics. Depicting London during a period of colossal change, ballooning wealth and huge social upheaval his subjects ranged widely.
The Zoological Society of London was the creation of Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir Humphry Davy in 1826, and its Gardens, opened in April 1828 on five acres carved from the northern edge of Nash's Regent's Park, were laid out by Decimus Burton in a manner deliberately closer to a gentleman's pleasure ground than a menagerie. The Zoo is to this day the world’s oldest scientific zoological centre, and serious academic study was the original stated purpose. Entry for the first two decades required Fellowship or a Fellow's written order — a restriction abandoned only in 1847. Baynes therefore depicts an exclusive resort, its promenading visitors as carefully observed as its inhabitants.
Two developments cemented the Gardens as a fixture of the capital. The seven-hundred-year-old royal menagerie at the Tower of London was dissolved in the early 1830s, its animals removed to Regent's Park (in 1828 the menagerie had included almost 60 different species of animal, including a number of big cats and a bear). In 1850 the hippopotamus Obaysch arrived from the White Nile, the first in Europe since Roman times, prompting a public frenzy. The hippo was a gift from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt in exchange for a number of greyhounds and deerhounds.
THREE VIEWS OF THE LONDON ZOO: (I) THE BEAR PITT; (II) THE BEAVER'S POOL; (III) THE PELICANS' ENCLOSURE, circa 1835
each signed and inscribed on the reverse
each watercolour and pencil heightened with white on paper
(i) 11 x 19cm; (ii) 12 x 21.5cm; (iii) 11 x 19cm; (32.5 x 82cm framed together)
Provenance
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
Sale, Lawrence's, Crewkerne, 6th July 2012, lot 138
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
There can be few more appealing records of London's Zoological Gardens than the watercolours and lithographs produced by Thomas Mann Baynes in the years immediately following its foundation. Born in 1794 to the watercolourist James Baynes, from whom he acquired both his facility and his profession, Baynes made a successful career from topography at precisely the moment lithography was transforming its economics. Depicting London during a period of colossal change, ballooning wealth and huge social upheaval his subjects ranged widely.
The Zoological Society of London was the creation of Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir Humphry Davy in 1826, and its Gardens, opened in April 1828 on five acres carved from the northern edge of Nash's Regent's Park, were laid out by Decimus Burton in a manner deliberately closer to a gentleman's pleasure ground than a menagerie. The Zoo is to this day the world’s oldest scientific zoological centre, and serious academic study was the original stated purpose. Entry for the first two decades required Fellowship or a Fellow's written order — a restriction abandoned only in 1847. Baynes therefore depicts an exclusive resort, its promenading visitors as carefully observed as its inhabitants.
Two developments cemented the Gardens as a fixture of the capital. The seven-hundred-year-old royal menagerie at the Tower of London was dissolved in the early 1830s, its animals removed to Regent's Park (in 1828 the menagerie had included almost 60 different species of animal, including a number of big cats and a bear). In 1850 the hippopotamus Obaysch arrived from the White Nile, the first in Europe since Roman times, prompting a public frenzy. The hippo was a gift from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt in exchange for a number of greyhounds and deerhounds.
Auction: London | Ancient & Modern, 16th Sep, 2026
London is a city which has had a greater impact on culture around the world than almost any other, and it has never been more important than now to shine a light on its remarkable citizens and history. From Magna Carta to the television London has, again and again, been the source from which progress has radiated. The present sale takes us from a medieval spur found under Cannon Street station, to a medal minted to commemorate the Millennium, from prints and paintings, to clocks and pistols. This sale is a sensational opportunity to acquire a small piece of this incomparable place. Olympia is a proudly London-based auction house and we are thrilled to be offering the inaugural instalment of this sale.
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PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 13th September: 12pm to 4pm
Monday 14th September: 10am to 8.00pm (Drinks from 5pm)
Tuesday 15th September: 10am to 5pm
