• Old Master & British Drawings auction at Christies

    Sale 11787

    Old Master & British Drawings

    London

    |

    5 July 2016

    Browse Sale
Previous Lot
Search
Next Lot
    • Sir James Thornhill (Melcombe
    Lot 67

    Sir James Thornhill (Melcombe Regis 1675-1734 Blandford Forum)

    Study for the ceiling design for the Queen's State Bedchamber, Hampton Court Palace (recto); and Study of a winged figure (verso)

    Price realised

    GBP 20,000

    Estimate

    GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000

    Follow lot
    Add to Interests

    Sir James Thornhill (Melcombe Regis 1675-1734 Blandford Forum)
    Study for the ceiling design for the Queen's State Bedchamber, Hampton Court Palace (recto); and Study of a winged figure (verso)
    pencil, pen and brown ink, grey-brown wash, watermark 'IV'
    10 ¼ x 7 ½ in. (26 x 19 cm.)

    Contact us

    • Contact Client Service

      info@christies.com

      New York +1 212 636 2000

      London +44 (0)20 7839 9060

      infoasia@christies.com

      Asia +852 2760 1766

    • Iona Ballantyne

      iballantyne@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2210

    • Annabel Kishor

      akishor@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2709

    • Harriet Drummond

      hdrummond@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2278

    • Rosie Jarvie

      rjarvie@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2257

    • Sarah Hobrough

      shobrough@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2257

    • Benjamin Peronnet

      bperonnet@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2272

    • Jonathan den Otter

      jdenotter@christies.com

      +44 (0)20 7389 2736

    Lot Essay

    The present drawing depicts The Abduction of Cephalus by Eos. The scheme was commissioned by King George I in November 1714, following his and the Prince of Wales’s visit to Hampton Court and the resulting decision to complete the Queen’s State Apartments in order to provide suitable accommodation for the Prince and Princess of Wales. The apartments had been left unfinished following the death of Queen Mary in 1694 and the coved white ceiling designed by Sir Christopher Wren had been left blank since its completion in the 1690s.

    The scheme was for many years thought to depict Leucothoë restraining Apollo from entering his chariot, but it has recently been reinvestigated and is now believed to depict Cephalus being abducted by Eos or Aurora, who had fallen in love with the Athenian prince. (see C. Brett, ‘Revealing Thornhill’s mythological scene at Hampton Court’, British Art Journal, 2012/3, 13, pp. 3-8, no. 3). The subject is taken from Book 7 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and owes its popularity throughout Europe to the play Favolo di Cefalo by Niccolò de Correggio (1450-1508). Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) for Cardinal Odoardo, Rubens (1577-1640) for King Philip IV of Spain, and Poussin (1594-1665) had all explored the subject previously.

    Thornhill had already worked on the decoration of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court when he was selected to design the Queen's Bedroom. The ceiling was completed by June 1715 and was favourably regarded by the Royal Family, as well as the Board of the Office of Works, including Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Vanbrugh, who stated that it was ‘skilfully and laboriously performed’. There is a modello for the ceiling design in the Soane Museum, London and a related drawing in the Royal Collection.

    Five years earlier Thornhill had explored the subject in a decorative scheme for the dining room of Hanbury Hall, for the lawyer Thomas Vernon, as part of a series of decorative paintings exploring the myths of love. The scheme was much smaller and simpler than the Hampton Court composition, although, co-incidentally Thornhill was completing the series begun by Verrio, which also took the myths of love as its unifying theme.

    Thornhill was the first native-born artist to establish himself as a decorative History painter and to compete with the French and Italian specialists who had dominated the field previously. His first major commission was the Painted Hall, Greenwich, which he began in 1708 and which took him almost 19 years to complete. He worked on numerous schemes, many of which, because of their very nature as decoration, have not survived, including St Paul's Cathedral, Kensington and Blenheim Palaces, and Chatsworth. In June 1718 Thornhill was appointed History Painter-in-Ordinary to the King and in 1720 he was appointed Sergeant-Painter, and was knighted, the first British painter to be so honoured and appointed Master of the Painter-Stainer’s Company.

    Recommended features

      • Virtual tour: Classic Week at
      • Virtual tour: Classic Week at Christie’s London

        Explore art from antiquity to the 20th century, offered as part of Classic Week in London, 3–13 December

      • 5 minutes with... Giandomenico
      • 5 minutes with... Giandomenico Tiepolo’s Punchinello drawings 

        Six intriguing ink drawings from the artist’s ‘last and greatest work’, illustrating the strange life of the hook-nosed clown, sold for £791,250

      • Old Master paintings: 5 things
      • Old Master paintings: 5 things for new buyers to consider

        Specialist Maja Markovic explains why, with estimates from as low as £5,000, your first Old Master acquisition doesn't have to be a Rubens or a Rembrandt

      • Collecting guide: Old Master&n
      • Collecting guide: Old Master prints

        International specialist Tim Schmelcher charts the evolution of a field in which works by the likes of Dürer or Rembrandt can offer exceptional value

      • Luxury Living: Homes with TV a
      • Luxury Living: Homes with TV and film connections

        From Hawaii to New York, five properties that stars of the entertainment industry have called home (both in real life and on screen)

      • 10 things to know about George
      • 10 things to know about George Nakashima

        The life and work of one of the leading lights of the American craft movement, illustrated with stunning pieces offered at Christie’s

Share
Email
Copy link