Scale
1 9/32 inches to 1 foot (7 inches to 5 ½ feet) (drawn scale)
Inscribed
By John Talman in pen and brown ink with triple-T collector's mark in oval cartouche at the centre of the base of the monument
Signed and dated
- Late 1670s to early 1690s
Medium and dimensions
Pen and brown ink with grey wash and pen shading over pencil under drawing; on laid paper, 402 x 265, laid down on a two-part Talman mount, 447 x 321, the narrower inner part with a triple-line border in gold leaf, the outer part with a single brown-ink ruled line.
Hand
Edward Pearce
Watermark
None visible
Notes
The wall panel is carried on a large, two-sided scrolled bracket of acanthus ornament enclosing is a winged skull crowned with leaves (signifying resurrection). The deep bolection-moulded base of the panel has a long, oval cartouche in the centre (inscribed later by John Talman with his collector's mark). The panel steps forward from narrow flanking panels and carries a square cloth hung from winged cherubs at the upper angles and a knotted fixture in the centre. It is crowned by a broken segmental pediment framing a strapwork cartouche on a tall, ogee-shaped socle. Swags of fruit hang from the lugs of the cartouche to the tops of the pediment either side. These are recognisably in Pearce's hand (see G. Higgott, 'The Revised Design for St Paul's Cathedral, 1685-90: Wren, Hawksmoor and Les Invalides', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 146 (August 2004), pp. 537-38, fig. 000).
Prov: John Talman Collection.
Literature
Wren Society, XVII, pl. 23, bottom
Level
Drawing
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