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Thirlestane Castle ('Lauder Castle') - view from side
Slezer inscribed this view of Lauder Castle, or Thirlestane Castle, 'most humbly' to the Rt Hon Charles Earl of Lauderdale.
The central part of the castle was completed as a fortified house in 1590. It was remodelled into a palace in the 1670s, around 30 years before Slezer made his drawing.
Our viewpoint is slightly above and to the left of the castle. In the outer courtyards are stable-hands and other workers. In the main courtyard are a number of people, including two couples. The women, wearing crinolines, are better dressed than most of the female figures Slezer used in other drawings. The couples are out of proportion to the rest of the figures in this prospect.
Slezer made three prospects of the building, but they weren't published in the first edition of Theatrum Scotiae. It was 1718 and 1719 before they were seen in print. Slezer intended them to be published in his follow-up volume, The Ancient and Present state of Scotland, but this was never finished.
