Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-thomson-2037" aria-label="More by George Thomson" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">George Thomson</a>
St Pauls
Purchased 1920
architecture
boat - non-specific
cathedral
City of London
City of London, St Paul’s Cathedral
England
house
places
religious
residential
river
River Thames
society
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK countries and regions
UK London
UK natural features
water: inland
waterfront
<p>This is one of a series of pictures that Thomson made of St Paul's Cathedral from different vantage points and under varying lighting conditions. According to D.S. MacColl, Steer rescued this picture from Thomson's studio floor presumably before it was first shown at the NEAC spring exhibition of 1898, where it was praised by the critics. In 1889 Thomson had figured in the one and only exhibition of the London Impressionists, a group that included Sickert, who believed that the urban scenery of the capital was a valid subject for Impressionist painting. Thomson suspended his interest in Impressionism in the mid 1890s in favour of Spanish Old Master style painting, but later turned again to Monet.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
St Paul’s
support: 635 × 762 mm
Purchased 1920
<p>This is one of a series of pictures that Thomson made of St Paul's Cathedral from different vantage points and under varying lighting conditions. According to D.S. MacColl, Steer rescued this picture from Thomson's studio floor presumably before it was first shown at the NEAC spring exhibition of 1898, where it was praised by the critics. In 1889 Thomson had figured in the one and only exhibition of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/british-impressionism" title="Glossary definition for 'British Impressionism'"><span>London Impressionists</span></a>, a group that included Sickert, who believed that the urban scenery of the capital was a valid subject for <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/impressionism" title="Glossary definition for 'Impressionism'"><span>Impressionist</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>. Thomson suspended his interest in Impressionism in the mid 1890s in favour of Spanish Old Master style painting, but later turned again to Monet.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N03506</b> ST PAUL'S <i>c.</i> 1897
<br/> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘George Thomson’ b.r.</p>
<p>Canvas, 25×30 (63·5×76).
<br/>Purchased from Christie's (Clarke Fund) 1920.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased from the artist by E. J. van Wisselingh at the N.E.A.C. Exhibition 1898; A. Croal Thompson, sold anonymously, Christie's, 19 December 1919 (150), bt. Martin for the Tate Gallery.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>
N.E.A.C., April–May 1898 (85); <i>Twenty Years of British Art, 1890–1910</i>, Whitechapel Art Gallery, May–June 1910 (298); C.A.S., <i>Loan Exhibition</i>, Manchester, winter 1911 (90); C.A.S., <i>First Public Exhibition in London</i>, Goupil Gallery, April 1913 (56).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Anon., ‘Australian Art and other Exhibitions’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1898, pp.186–7, repr. p.187; D. S. MacColl, <i>Philip Wilson Steer</i>, 1945, p.33.</p>
<p>This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> was given a place of honour when shown at the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/new-english-art-club" title="Glossary definition for 'New English Art Club'"><span>N.E.A.C</span></a>. in the spring of 1898 and was highly praised by the critic of the <i>Art Journal</i>. The cathedral is seen from a point across the river on the Surrey side. D. S. MacColl mentions that Steer ‘rescued’ a painting by Thomson of ‘St Paul's’ from the floor of the artist's studio, and identifies it as that now in the Tate; this incident presumably occurred before its first exhibition and purchase by E. J. van Wisselingh in 1898. Two other paintings, ‘St Paul's Churchyard’ and ‘St Paul's from Fleet Street’, were shown at the 21st and 23rd N.E.A.C. exhibitions, November–December 1898 (99) and November–December 1904 (77) respectively. A dated painting of 1897, showing almost the same view as No.3506 but under different conditions of light, was sold at Sotheby's on 10 April 1963 (103), bt. P.M. Samuel.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture boat - non-specific cathedral City of London City of London, St Paul’s Cathedral England house places religious residential river River Thames society townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK countries and regions UK London UK natural features waterfront water: inland