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Last Name Thornhill
Given Name James
alt. Names J. T. ;
Marriage w. Lady Thornhill, who died at Chiswick in 1757
Children son, James, who became serjeant-painter to the Navy; one daughter, Jane, who secretly married caricaturist & draughtsman William Hogarth in 1729
Year born 1675 or 1676 in Melcombe Regis, Dorset, England
Year died 1734
Place of death Thornhill, Dorset, England
Father's occupation Walter Thornhill of Wareham and Mary, eldest daughter of Colonel William Sydenham, governor of Weymouth.
Relatives draughtsman, caricaturist & painter William Hogarth, who married J.T.s daughter Jane: www.hogarth.org.uk/resource/mcerts/wh_jt_ma.htm
Education 1689-96 apprentice to Thomas Highmore (1660-1720), a non-figurative decorative painter; also studies w. Antonio Verrio (1639?-1707) & Louis Laguerre
Country of Activity England, UK
Worked for (stellar) Atlas Coelestis of astronomers John Flamsteed & assistants Joseph Crosthwait & Abraham Sharp, publ. 1719-29, 2nd ed. 1753
Patronage Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed; court painter of George I since 1718; 1720 Serjeant Painter & knighted since 1720; master of the Painters' guild;
Collaborators Sir J.T. ran a private art academy where one of his was William Hogarth
Techniques mostly historical & genre oil painting; astronomical engraving & stellar map-making; also portrays of Sir Isaac Newton in old age, 1709-12.
Sample(s) www.google.de/search?q=James+Thornhill+Flamsteed ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Coelestis
Archival sources en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Thornhill www.thedorsetpage.com/people/James_Thornhill.htm words.fromoldbooks.org/Chalmers-Biography/t/thornhill-sir-james
Published sources Memorial of Sir J.T., The Gentlemen's magazine & historical review 195 (Jan 1855):486ff.;DNB 57; Tabitha Barber in Oxford DNB 2004;AKL;
other English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition; Queen Anne asked him to decorate the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in 1715ff.; Fellow of the Royal Society, London since 1720, 1722 to 1734 Thornhill was Member of Parliament for Melcombe Regis.;
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