Sir James Thornhill was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, the paintings on the inside of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, and works at Chatsworth House and Wimpole Hall.
Self portrait, detail of a painting in the Painted Hall of the Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, London
Sketch for the ceiling of the Painted Hall, Greenwich Hospital: William and Mary Presenting the Cap of Liberty to Europe, about 1710, V&A Museum no. 812–1877
The Sabine bedroom at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, 1706
The staircase at Hanbury Hall in Worcestershire, murals completed c.1710
The Old Royal Naval College are buildings that serve as the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as being of "outstanding universal value" and reckoned to be the "finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles". The buildings were originally constructed to serve as Greenwich Hospital, designed by Christopher Wren, and built between 1696 and 1712. The hospital closed in 1869 and so between 1873 and 1998 the buildings were used as a training establishment for the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The site is now managed by the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College, established in 1997 to conserve the buildings and grounds and convert them into a cultural destination.
The Chapel is in Queen Mary Court (left) and the Painted Hall is in King William Court (right). The domes are above the entrances.
The Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital as drawn by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson
John Michael Rysbrack's George II (1735) in the Grand Square of the Greenwich Hospital
Badge of the Royal Hospital on the Water Gate of the Royal Naval College
