Pen
and brown ink and wash over traces of pencil
18
by 15 cm., 7 by 5 ¾ in.
Provenance:
With
Basket and Day, London, 1971;
With
Colnaghi, London, 1972
Pen and brown and
grey ink and grey washes on laid paper
18.2 by 17.2 cm., 7 by 6
¾ in.
Provenance:
Colonel
Gould Weston, his sale, Christie’s, 15th July
1958, lot 125 as part of an album;
Ralph
Holland (1917-2012)
This
drawing may be linked to the work that Thornhill did for Isaac Loader
(b.1653) at Deptford. Loader was an anchor maker by profession and was
appointed Sheriff of Deptford in 1701. Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725)
visited Loader’s house in 1714 and records that `the gardens are surprisingly
fine and large: there are Mr Thornhill’s paintings in the Bagnio, and
other garden-houses’ (see R. Thoresby, The
Diary of Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S., 1830,
p.237).
Pen and brown ink and wash
6.9 by 5.5 cm., 2 3/4 by 2 inches
Thornhill was the most important
decorative painter of the early eighteenth century. His most famous works are
the interior of the dome of St. Paul?s Cathedral and the Great Hall at
Greenwich. He also worked on interior decoration at Blenheim, Moor Park,
Hampton Court, Easton Neston and Wimpole.
The present drawing is likely to
relate to one of his decorative schemes. The distinctive use of crosses in the
place of faces is typical of his pen and ink preparatory drawings.