"Note, the upper end of the hall where the royal family is painted, was left chiefly to the pencil of Mr Andrea a foreigner, after the payment originally agreed upon for the work was so much reduced, as made it not worth Sir James's while to finish the whole with his own more masterly hand." Paulson notes of Andrea: "Dietrich Ernst, a Pole, c 1680-1734?" Hogarth: Analysis of Beauty, 1753, ed 1997, p 92. |
| Thornhill: Marine Drawings, 1711 the painted hall © Charles Harrison Wallace 2009 |
 | Victoria Navales The leap from 1588 to 1692 omits Stuart rule; but also the Interregnum, and the victories of Blake. At this period Thornhill presumably considered it circumspect to avoid stirring memories of Cromwell and the Protectorate, solving the problem by omitting any reference to this painful period. Any reminiscences of conflict with the Dutch are also swept away. Discomfiture of Spain and France, as well as the pretensions of the Pretender, on the other hand, are recorded with relish. When visiting the Hall in the company of an academic colleague, he expressed puzzlement over the reference to Edinburgh. A forgotten episode, considered of signal importance at the time. See also here. |