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Biography of Sir James Thornhill (1675/6–1734)
British decorative and portrait painter and politician. He may have trained as an architect before becoming a pupil of the court painter Thomas Highmore. He also learned from the continental artists active in England, Louis Laguerre and Antonio Verrio, both of whom specialized in illusionistic wall decorations. In 1711 he travelled to Belgium and Holland to study Baroque architecture, which he recorded in his sketchbook. The allegorical decorations of the Painted Hall at Greenwich Hospital (1708–25) show William and Mary attended by the Cardinal Virtues and emphasize the grandeur of the place. It was his most prestigious commission, alongside the decoration of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral in London (1716–19). The frescoes in grisaille at St Paul’s tell the story of St Peter, each of eight scenes placed in a trompe l’oeil niche. He also worked at Hampton Court, Blenheim and Charborough Park. He painted portraits including his tour de force self-portrait (before 1725, National Portrait Gallery, London) showing Painting, personified by a half-naked female figure, brush in hand, working on the portrait of the artist and attended by a putto. In 1716 he succeeded Sir Godfrey Kneller as governor of the Academy of Painting in London. He was appointed History Painter to George I in 1718. The 1720s brought him further successes: he was made Serjeant Painter and Master of the Painter-Stainers’ Company in 1720 and was knighted in 1722. Despite these successes his art fell out of fashion and he moved into politics, becoming Member of Parliament for his native Malcombe Regis in 1722. He was the father-in-law of William Hogarth and features in the latter’s parliamentary portrait group of ‘The Goals Committee of the House of Commons’ (circa 1729, National Portrait Gallery, London).
View paintings by Sir James Thornhill
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