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  • image SM volume 111/64

Reference number

SM volume 111/64

Purpose

Preparatory design for a hanging wall monument with a blank inscription panel of suspended cloth

Aspect

Elevation

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

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk