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Drawing, Study for Staircase Decoration, Hanbury Hall, Worchestershire: Achilles Revealing his Identity in the Palace of Lycomedes
This is a Drawing. It was created by Sir James Thornhill. Its medium is pen and brown ink, brush and wash on tan laid paper, lined, mounted. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
This exuberant design for a staircase mural in the Italian Baroque manner was commissioned by Thomas Vernon, a wealthy lawyer and Member of Parliament, for Hanbury Hall in Worchestershire. A painted staircase was a significant status symbol at the end of the seventeenth century; the royal residences of Windsor Castle and Hampton Court had painted staircases by the Italian-born artist Antonio Verrio, while several great noble houses possessed murals by the French decorative painter Louis Laguerre. Sir James Thornhill, being a Protestant Englishman, was a popular choice among Whig patrons. The drawing’s fine lines and controlled washes of ink tell a story from the life of Achilles. Thornhill selected the dramatic moment when the Greek hero reveals his true identity at Court of Lycomedes, thus yielding to his destiny to join the Trojan War. The figure of Mercury bridges the space between the ceiling at his head and the wall at his feet, casting his shadow across the trompe-l'œil architectural framework. The placement of the deity boldly underscores the illusionism of the scene and draws the eye upward to the lofty host of Olympians on the ceiling. Thornhill, who had experience designing stage sets, had a flair for the dramatic and a talent for illusionistic perspective. He was later to gain fame for his work on Saint Paul’s Cathedral.
This object was donated by Mrs. Charles B. Alexander.
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- Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund.
- 1938-88-3461
- Digital Print, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (TAMA ), Tel Aviv, Israel, Lightfall I
- digitally enhanced fujiflex print, laminated and mounted on plexiglass.
- 2005-4-1
Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.
- Print, Carceri Series, Plate XIV, 1745
- etching on white laid paper.
- Gift of Gertrude W. Lewis.
- 1959-182-12
- Staircase Model (France), mid–late 19th century
- walnut.
- Gift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw.
- 2007-45-22
Cite this object as
Drawing, Study for Staircase Decoration, Hanbury Hall, Worchestershire: Achilles Revealing his Identity in the Palace of Lycomedes; Sir James Thornhill (English, 1675 - 1734); England; pen and brown ink, brush and wash on tan laid paper, lined, mounted; 1900-1-1
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Hewitt Sisters Collect.
