Preliminary studies for the walls and ceiling of a chapel, depicting the Seasons, Boreas and Orythia, Zepharius and Flora and Bacchus and Ariadne, and seven planets

Details

Sir James Thornhill (1675-1734)
Preliminary studies for the walls and ceiling of a chapel, depicting the Seasons, Boreas and Orythia, Zepharius and Flora and Bacchus and Ariadne, and seven planets
inscribed '7 Pannels [sic] on ye backside of ye Chappel [sic].' (upper centre) and further inscribed with the symbols and names of the planets 'Diana', 'Mercury'; 'Venus'; 'Apollo'; 'Mars'; 'Jupiter'; 'Saturnus'; 'Accord. to Ptolomys/7 Planets/7 Liberal Arts.'; and 'Boreas & Orthia/Zeph. & Flora./Bacch. Ariadne'; 'Winter/Autumn./Spring./Sumer [sic]' and annotated with scale
pencil, pen and brown ink and grey wash, watermark 'PRO PATRIA', unframed
12 1/8 x 16 in. (30.8 x 40.7 cm.)

Provenance

Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 9 April 1991, lot 10 (£528) as 'A design for Blenheim Palace'.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The present drawing, inscribed as 'on ye backside of the Chappel [sic]', may relate to the saloon of Dunster Castle, Somerset. Thornhill was commissioned to work on the Chapel at Dunster by Dorothy Luttrell in 1723 and completed the work in 1724 for a cost of £1300. However the classical iconography is an unusual subject for a chapel, and it is possible that Thornhill also executed designs for the saloon, which backed onto the chapel while he was there.

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