Lot 353: SIR JAMES THORNHILL

MELCOMBE REGIS 1675 - 1734 PSYCHE AMONGST THE OLYMPIAN GODS: A CEILING DESIGN FOR STOKE EDITH HOUSE, HERFORDSHIRE Pen and brown ink and brown wash over traces of pencil, oval 194 by 315 mm

Sale, London, Christie's, 11 December 1990, lot 204, purchased by Ralph Holland

This confidently executed drawing is connected with Thornhill’s work at Stoke Edith House, Herefordshire. In circa 1705 Thomas Foley M.P. (d. 1734) commissioned the artist to decorate parts of his house with scenes from classical mythology.1 Thornhill prepared numerous designs for Foley, some of which survive in a sketch-book now in the collection of the British Museum (BM. 1884,0726.40.40). The original house, along with Thornhill’s decorative scheme, was tragically destroyed by fire in 1926. 1. E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England 1537-1837, London 1962, pp. 272-273