James Thornhill. Sir James Thornhill was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition.
He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the Painted Hall at the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, the paintings on the inside of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, and works at Chatsworth House and Wimpole Hall. Thornhill was born in Melcombe Regis, Dorset, the son of Walter Thornhill of Wareham and Mary, eldest daughter of Colonel William Sydenham, governor of Weymouth.
In 1689 he was apprenticed to Thomas Highmore, a specialist in non-figurative decorative painting. He also learned a great deal from Antonio Verrio and Louis Laguerre, two prominent foreign decorative painters then working in England.
He completed his apprenticeship in 1696 and, on 1 March 1704, became a Freeman of the Painter-Stainers' Company of London. Thornhill decorated palace interiors with large-scale compositions, with figures commonly shown in idealized and rhetorical postures.
In 1707 he was given the commission to decorate the Hall now known as the Painted Hall at Greenwich Naval College. The scheme of allegorical wall and ceiling decorations of the hall depicts the Protestant succession of English monarchs from William III and Mary II to George I. On 28 June 1715 Thornhill was awarded the commission to decorate the dome of St Paul's Cathedral by a whig, low-church dominated
He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the Painted Hall at the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, the paintings on the inside of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, and works at Chatsworth House and Wimpole Hall. Thornhill was born in Melcombe Regis, Dorset, the son of Walter Thornhill of Wareham and Mary, eldest daughter of Colonel William Sydenham, governor of Weymouth.
In 1689 he was apprenticed to Thomas Highmore, a specialist in non-figurative decorative painting. He also learned a great deal from Antonio Verrio and Louis Laguerre, two prominent foreign decorative painters then working in England.
He completed his apprenticeship in 1696 and, on 1 March 1704, became a Freeman of the Painter-Stainers' Company of London. Thornhill decorated palace interiors with large-scale compositions, with figures commonly shown in idealized and rhetorical postures.
In 1707 he was given the commission to decorate the Hall now known as the Painted Hall at Greenwich Naval College. The scheme of allegorical wall and ceiling decorations of the hall depicts the Protestant succession of English monarchs from William III and Mary II to George I. On 28 June 1715 Thornhill was awarded the commission to decorate the dome of St Paul's Cathedral by a whig, low-church dominated
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