Lot 184: Attributed to Antonio Verrio (Lecce c.1639 -1707 London)

Attributed to Antonio Verrio (Lecce c.1639 -1707 London)
A sketch for a mural in St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle, showing King William III Enthroned in Glory
oil on canvas
22¾ x 35½ (62.8 x 90.2 cm)

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The present sketch relates to the redecoration of St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle, which Verrio undertook between c.1700 and 1701. The design was probably intended to replace the Triumph of the Black Prince on the north wall, which Verrio had executed during the early 1680s. Invited to England from Paris in 1672 by the 1st Duke of Montagu, Ambassador to the French Court, Verrio worked for Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, before entering Royal service under King Charles II in c.1673. By 1674, Verrio was engaged in the decoration of Hugh May's newly reconstructed north range of Windsor Castle, which was to prove the greatest undertaking of his career, occupying him and a team of assistants for a total of nine years. After completing the State Apartments, Verrio turned to the embellishment of the King's Chapel and St. George's Hall, the setting for the Garter installation ceremonies (revived at the Restoration) and St George's Feast Days (both the nation's Patron Saint and Patron to the Order of the Garter). The reconstruction of the fabric of St. George's Hall was complete by 1680 and its redecoration took place between 1682 and 1684, the central theme being the glorification of King Charles II and the newly restored Order of the Garter. The scheme, which no longer exists, is recorded in a drawing by Francis Rigaud (1742-1810) executed in 1805 (The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). The design was crowned by an apotheosis of King Charles II in the centre of the ceiling, which was flanked by two octagonal fields containing the Garter Star surrounded by muses and the Garter Collar surrounded by allegorical figures. The north wall, which was divided into bays by feigned paired Corinthian columns, showed the triumphal procession of the Black Prince, accompanied by figures clad in Roman costumes weaving riotously in and out of the columns (reminiscent of Mantegna's Triumph of Caesar), moving towards his father, King Edward III, Founder of the Order. On completion of the work in 1684, Verrio was appointed Chief Painter to the King.
By the end of the century, Verrio's work in the King's Chapel and St. George's Hall was in a state of disrepair and Verrio was paid £1,800 between June 1699 and November 1701 for repairing several ceilings and for 'new painting' or 'new doeing[sic]' the sides and ends of St. George's Hall. It is not clear whether this costly work involved changes to the composition, or simply the wholesale repainting of areas of damaged, or decaying work. Daniel Defoe, however, commented that 'The Painting on the [North] Side of the Hall was now wholly inverted, and the same Triumph was performed again; but the March turned just the other way' (cited in E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England 1537-1837, London, 1962, II, p. 318). During the reign of King George I (1714-1727), Defoe observed that the representation of the Black Prince's Triumph in St. George's Hall was being spoiled by the efflorescence of the salts in the lime (cited in H.M. Colvin, ed., The History of the King's Works, V, 1660-1782, London, 1976, p. 337). The design in the present sketch was never realized, however, the sketch would appear to be evidence of King William III's more self-agrandising original intentions. The overall scheme was so decayed by the reign of King George IV that he ordered its demolition during the 1820s.