1705
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Design for a stage set for Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus at the Theatre Royal, London for Act I, scene 1, Arsinoe sleeping in a garden at night is a 1705 by James Thornhill, a Baroque work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
James Thornhill drew this stage design in 1705 for a play called Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus. It shows the queen asleep in a garden at night. The drawing is small, made with red chalk, then ink and wash for darker areas. Thornhill didn’t finish every detail. He left parts loose and suggestive. This lets the eye fill in the rest. Look up James Thornhill next.
A pen and ink drawing with wash, the work depicts a stage set design for Act I, Scene I of *Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus*, as performed at London’s Theatre Royal in 1705, showing the sleeping figure of Arsinoe in a nocturnal garden. Executed in red chalk with subsequent pen and ink reinforcement and wash for deeper tones, the drawing was purchased from W.J. Smith in 1891 and later removed from an album containing chiefly Thornhill’s works.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Sir James Thornhill was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition.
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