Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-james-thornhill-550" aria-label="More by Sir James Thornhill" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir James Thornhill</a>
Apotheosis Romulus a Ceiling Decoration Possibly Hewell Grange Worcestershire
Purchased 1953
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
apotheosis
architecture
ceiling
chariot
classical
classical myths: events, themes
classical myths: gods and heroes
cloud
crowd
emotions, concepts and ideas
features
female
flying
god
goddess
groups
horse
literature and fiction
male
man
nudes
Ovid, ‘Metamorphoses’
people
power
putto
religion and belief
Romulus
Romulus and Remus
society
transport: land
universal concepts
universal religious imagery
weather
woman
<p>This is probably part of a decorative scheme for Hewell Grange, the seat of the Earl of Plymouth, which was destroyed in the nineteenth century. The story of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, was a favourite subject for the mansions of landowners who prided themselves on their classical learning and who saw parallels between eighteenth-century Britain and the rise of the Roman Empire. As the only British-born decorative painter of note, Thornhill catered wholeheartedly for this taste and played on native pride to thwart foreign competition. Some of his aggressive chauvinism was later taken over by his son-in-law William Hogarth.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
17 April 2006 – 19 February 2007
2007-02-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-04-17
Kneller
Collection based display
11 October 2013 – 6 April 2014
2014-04-06
11 October 2013 – 6 April 2014
2014-04-06
2013-10-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-10-11
Sketches for Spaces
Collection based display
26 September 2022
4 October 2021
2021-10-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-09-26
Gallery 92
Collection based display
The Apotheosis of Romulus: Sketch for a Ceiling Decoration, Possibly for Hewell Grange, Worcestershire
support: 457 × 521 mm
frame: 584 × 643 × 75 mm
Purchased 1953
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<p>This is probably part of a decorative scheme for Hewell Grange, the seat of the Earl of Plymouth, which was destroyed in the 19th century. The story of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, was a favourite subject for wealthy stately-home owners. They prided themselves on their classical learning and saw parallels between 18th-century Britain and the rise of the Roman Empire. As the only successful British decorative painter, James Thornhill catered wholeheartedly for this taste. He played on native pride in an effort to beat competition from foreign-born artists.</p>
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Online caption
2023-11-29T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/thornhill-the-apotheosis-of-romulus-sketch-for-a-ceiling-decoration-possibly-for-hewell-n06200" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06200</span></a> <b>The Apotheosis of Romulus: Sketch for a Ceiling Decoration, Possibly for Hewell Grange, Worcestershire</b> <i>c.</i> 1710
<br/></p>
<p>Oil on canvas 460×520 (18 1/8×20 1/2)
<br/>Purchased (Cleve Fund) 1953
<br/>PROVENANCE ...; bt H.D. Molesworth in Brighton 1939 (as by Tintoretto) and sold to H. Calmann 1953
<br/>EXHIBITED <i>Pittura inglese 1660–1840</i>, BC, Palazzo Reale, Milan 1975 (20, repr.)</p>
<p>LITERATURE Croft-Murray 1962, p.270
<br/>
<br/>This sketch for an oblong ceiling design in a painted false stucco surround with indented corners, represents the reception of a hero in Olympus. He is shown stepping out of a horse-drawn chariot and being presented to the assembled gods by a helmeted Mars.
<br/>
<br/>A ceiling <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> similar in overall shape and concept but less precise in detail can be found in Thornhill's sketchbook in the British Museum (fig.60, 1884-7-26-40, p.65 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>recto</span></a>), inscribed ‘L<sup>d</sup>. Plimouth's Hall. Ceil. 18 ftt high at Hewill Hall near Bromsgrove’. This refers to Hewell Grange, the Earl of Plymouth's seat in Worcestershire, which was destroyed at the end of the last century and of which little record remains.
<br/>
<br/><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/iconography" title="Glossary definition for 'Iconography'"><span>Iconographically</span></a>, the hero represented here appears to be Romulus, who, according to Ovid (<i>Metamorphoses</i>, Book XIV), was taken up to Olympus in the chariot of his father Mars. The canine silhouette behind him would then be the She-wolf of Rome, an animal sacred to Mars, who nurtured the hero in infancy. Its turned head is almost identical (in reverse) to that in a roundel <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> of the She-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus in Thornhill's sketchbook (BM accession no. 1884-7-76-40, p.33, recto), where it is part of a sequence of sketches dealing with the Romulus legend, thought to be unused designs for Stoke Edith. The She-wolf also accompanies Romulus in the apotheosis of the hero on the ceiling of the Second George Room at Burghley House painted sometime before 1691 by Antonio Verrio. Although the designs in no way resemble each other, Verrio was a profound influence on the much younger Thornhill, who studied his work closely and may have even worked with him in about 1702–4.
<br/>Various elements in the design are echoed in a number of sketches of heroic apotheoses in the British Museum sketchbook, and a possibly related oil sketch was lent by Sir Lawrence Gowing to the Thornhill exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery in 1958(1).</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, <i>The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals apotheosis architecture ceiling chariot classical classical myths: events, themes classical myths: gods and heroes cloud crowd emotions, concepts and ideas features female flying god goddess groups horse literature and fiction male man nudes Ovid, ‘Metamorphoses’ people power putto religion and belief Romulus Romulus and Remus society transport: land universal concepts universal religious imagery weather woman