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Sir James Thornhill, 1675–1734, British, St. Paul before Agrippa, ca. 1710
- Title:
St. Paul before Agrippa
- Date:
- ca. 1710
- Medium:
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions:
- Support (PTG): 32 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches (81.9 x 74.3 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1981.25.627
- Classification:
- Paintings
- Collection:
- Paintings and Sculpture
- Link to Frame:
- B1981.25.627FR
- Subject Terms:
- apostle | architecture | armor | Bible | book | Classical | columns | king (person) | men | Paul before Festus, King Agrippa and Queen Bernice | queen (person) | religious | religious and mythological subject | Roman | ruins | saint | shawls | soldiers | swords | trial | women
- Associated People:
- Paul the Apostle (c. AD 5 – c. AD 67)
Agrippa II (born AD 27/28), seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great
Berenice of Cilicia (28 AD – ?), Jewish client queen of the Roman Empire during the second half of the 1st century - Access:
- On view in the galleries
- Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1090
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
In 1709, the Commissioners for the Fabric of St. Paul’s announced a competition to paint the interior of the cathedral’s dome. Leading painters from the continent submitted designs, but the Englishman James Thornhill secured this prestigious commission in 1715. Thornhill was then considered Britain’s leading decorative painter, but many patrons, familiar with the sophistication of decorative painting abroad, favored other artists, especially Venetians. One London newspaper predicted that Thornhill would “put to Silence all the loud Applauses we have hitherto given to foreign Artists.” The rich colors used in this preparatory picture do not appear in the final murals; the commissioners decided that grisaille—a painted imitation of stone relief—would be more acceptable for a Protestant church. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
Apostles in England - Sir James Thornhill and the Legacy of Raphael's Tapestry Cartoons (Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, 1996-10-15 - 1996-12-21) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 222-223, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]
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