Thomas and/or George Thornhill are unknown. If they were two people they were most likely brothers, or alternatively there was some confusion over the given name of the Mr Thornhill in question. It is possible that this was Thomas Thornhill (1734/35-1800) of Fixby, West Yorkshire, who succeeded an uncle in 1754, and is recorded by Ingamells as being in Capua in 1761.

In 1768-70 the Adam office provided Thornhill with interior decorative designs for a drawing room and dining room within an unknown house. There are two schemes for a drawing room ceiling clearly intended for two differently shaped rooms, and there are two schemes for a drawing room chimneypiece, possibly also intended for two different rooms. There is also a design for a dining room chimneypiece on a diminutive scale, suggesting that it was intended for a small dining room, perhaps within a townhouse or cottage. None of these designs are known to have been executed.

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The architecture of Robert and James Adam,1922, Volume II, Index pp. 58, 89; J. Ingamells, A dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy: 1701-1800, 1997, p. 938; D. King, The complete works of Robert & James Adam and unbuilt Adam, 2001, Volume II, p. 179

Frances Sands, 2015