Burning of the Books at Ephesus
Drawing
c.1715
c.1715
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This drawing is a preliminary study for one of the illusionistic lunettes decorating the interior of the dome in St Paul’s Cathedral. Sir James Thornhill received the coveted commission to decorate the dome of the cathedral in 1715 and completed the project in 1717.
The drawing depicts the burning of the books at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-19), one of ten scenes from the life of the saint depicted on the dome. Thornhill sketched the composition of this drawing in brown chalk, enhancing the darker passages with wash and using white chalk to emphasise the highlights.
The drawing depicts the burning of the books at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-19), one of ten scenes from the life of the saint depicted on the dome. Thornhill sketched the composition of this drawing in brown chalk, enhancing the darker passages with wash and using white chalk to emphasise the highlights.
Object details
| Object type | |
| Title | Burning of the Books at Ephesus |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Drawing, Burning of the Books at Ephesus, study for an illusionistic lunette in the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral by Sir James Thornhill, brown chalk heightened with white, and wash, the composition bordered in gold, laid down on washline mount, Britain, ca. 1715 |
| Physical description | Drawing in brown chalk heightened with white, and wash; the borders in pen, ink and gold. Study for an illusionistic lunette in the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral depicting Burning of the Books at Ephesus |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 6 (At the top of the sheet in brown chalk, possibly Thornhill’s own hand, and at the bottom of the sheet in pencil, possibly in a 20th-century hand) |
| Object history | Provenance: Purchased from E. Parsons in 1886 This drawing came to the museum as part of a set of eight preparatory studies for the painted decoration of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral At the time of acquisition, these drawings were inserted into a small folio volume with Horace Walpole’s bookplate; they have since been remounted. D.695-1906 comprises three further studies for this composition on a single sheet. St Paul’s Cathedral holds an associated oil painting, probably painted after the project was completed (acc. no. 8206). Sir James Thornhill received the sought-after commission to decorate the dome of the cathedral in 1715 and completed the project in 1717, for which he was paid a total of £6575. The terms of the commission stipulated that the dome be painted with scenes from the New Testament’s Acts of the Apostles and that they should be executed in monochrome to give the appearance of sculptural relief. This study and the final painting indicate Thornhill’s strict observance of these rules. In 1719, Thornhill announced that he would publish the scenes as a series of prints. One week before the engravings were issued to subscribers in May 1720, Thornhill gave the first set of prints to George I on the occasion of his knighthood. The Burning of the Books at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-19) is the sixth scene from the life of St Paul and is located to the right of the Paul Converting the Jailor at Philippi (see D.1089-1886). |
| Summary | This drawing is a preliminary study for one of the illusionistic lunettes decorating the interior of the dome in St Paul’s Cathedral. Sir James Thornhill received the coveted commission to decorate the dome of the cathedral in 1715 and completed the project in 1717. The drawing depicts the burning of the books at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-19), one of ten scenes from the life of the saint depicted on the dome. Thornhill sketched the composition of this drawing in brown chalk, enhancing the darker passages with wash and using white chalk to emphasise the highlights. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Edward Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England 1537-1837, I, London, 1962, p. 271, no. 33 (4)
Edgar de N. Mayhew, Sketches by Thornhill in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1967, p. 15, no. 14
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For broader discussions of Thornhill’s commission to paint the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, see:
Tabitha Barber (ed.), Baroque Britain: Power and Illusion, exhibition catalogue, Tate, 2020, pp. 59-60
Richard Johns, ‘"An Air of Grandeur & Modesty": James Thornhill's Painting in the Dome of St Paul's Cathedral’, Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 42, no. 4, Summer, 2009, pp. 501-527
Arline Meyer, Sir James Thornhill and the Legacy of Raphael's Tapestry Cartoons, exhibition catalogue, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University in the City of New York, 1996, pp. 69-72
Carol Gibson-Wood, 'The Political Background to Thornhill's Paintings in St Paul's Cathedral', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 56, 1993, pp. 229-37 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | D.1091-1886 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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