Court, Country, City: British Art 1660-1735
HISTORY paintings
Sir James Thornhill 1675/6-1734
St Paul Preaching at Athens about 1710
Oil on canvas
Lent by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral 1989
L01480
This is a sketch for one of a series of paintings for the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Because it was for an Anglican cathedral its patrons did not want it to be too dynamic or colourful, as would have been typical in Catholic Italy. So a British, Protestant artist was chosen. What does the resulting design suggest about how ‘history’ painting needed to be changed to suit British tastes?
