1715
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
St Paul Shipwrecked on the Island of Malta is a 1715 by James Thornhill, a Baroque work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This drawing is a study for a decoration in St Paul's Cathedral. It's a work by Sir James Thornhill, a British artist. The drawing is part of a larger project to depict scenes from the life of St Paul. It was created as a preliminary study for one of the illusionistic lunettes in the cathedral's dome. To learn more about the style and techniques used in this drawing, look up the movement: Baroque.
This drawing in brown chalk with white heightening and wash served as a preparatory study for an illusionistic lunette in the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, depicting the scene of St Paul shipwrecked on Malta. Executed in 1715 as part of Thornhill’s commission to paint eight New Testament scenes in monochrome, the work uses chalk and wash to suggest sculptural relief. Acquired in 1886, the drawing was originally part of a folio volume bearing Horace Walpole’s bookplate before being remounted. The final dome painting adheres to the commission’s stipulation of monochromatic execution to emulate…
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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