A FORGOTTEN TREASURE

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2301, 12 July 1921, Page 1

A FORGOTTEN TREASURE

REVEALED BY RAY OF LIGHT

The interesting lkings hidden aw.iy in London arc so many that no one can find them all. Sometimes they come to light iri strange ways. The latest example is the discovery in tin old church, St. Mary Abchurcli, built by Sir Christopher Wren, of a beautiful ceiling painted by Sir James Thornhill, a Dorsetshire man, who, in the reigns of Queen Anne and George 1., was a fashionable decorative painter.

He it was who first painted the inside of the dome of -St. Paul's Cathedral paintings now destroyed.

Thornhill Was an artist of real distinction, but bis work, being chiefly decorative, aiid depending on the duration of perishable buildings, has been spoiled by rime to a large extent. This makes the discovery of a good example of if after a lapse of 200 years the more remarkable and valuable. A beam supporting the roof of St. Mary Abchurek haying fallen, a shaft of light was let in, and there appeared a beautiful painted ceiling. A ring of electric lights has now been placed high up in the roof, and twentieth century visitors can see the work of this famous English decorative artist.