Lot 5: Sir James Thornhill (1675-1734)

Proposed design for the saloon ceiling at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire: The Apotheosis of Hercules
pen and brown ink and brown wash, heightened with white, on blue paper, within a trompe l'oeil border, oval
17 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. (45 x 28.5 cm.)

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

The present drawing is one of the projected designs for the ceiling of the Saloon at Blenheim Palace, where Thornhill had been employed by the Duke of Marlborough. On 30 June 1716, John Vanburgh wrote to the Duchess of Marlborough saying '...Mr Thornhill goes on apace in the Hall; and he has begun with a better Spirit in his paintings than anything I have seen of his doing before. I hope he'll continue it. I know he piques himself upon appearing well at Blenheim' (quoted in the exhibition catalogue London, Marble Hill House, English Baroque Sketches, 1974). After completing the hall ceiling depicting the Glorification of the Duke of Marlborough in 1716, he was dismissed by the Duchess as too expensive, and the decorations were completed by his rival, Louis Laguerre (1663-1721). Similar designs for Thornhill's ceiling schemes at Blenheim can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the British Museum Sketchbook (1884-7-26-40) and more developed studies in the British Museum, London and the Huntingdon, California.

In the present drawing Hercules is borne aloft on a bank of cloud, club in hand, to be received by Jupiter and take his place as one of the twelve gods of Olympus. Juno sits on Jupiter's right hand side as Hercules receives a laurel crown in the presence of Mars, Apollo, Mercury, Venus and other Olympians. The subject of apotheosis, or deification of mortals is a key device in baroque art and the metaphor lends itself well to portrayal of ascent to heaven, glorifying the Duke of Marlborough and his victory in battle.

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