File:Figure studies for the west wall (second project) RMG PY4061.tiff

Two studies, one above the other and annotated by Thornhill on a single sheet, laid down on another with a drawn border. Both show George, Prince of Wales (later George II), in armour on the left at the top of steps, with Thornhill at the bottom, back to viewer by the pillar base on the right. The Prince has his left hand on his hip and holds a commander's baton in his right. Thornhill's left hand is also on his hip and gestures towards the Prince with his right, while his head turns over his left shoulder to look out at the viewer. These versions experiment with groupings of contemporary figures but in the scheme as executed they are superseded by the figure of Naval Victory holding a scroll of British naval triumphs.

Between them in the top sketch are four bewigged figures, the central one showing a paper with a list (presumably a roll call of naval victories). Thornhill has noted above that these are 'The 4 L[or]ds Com[m]iss[ione]rs [of the Admiralty] that / are Admirals'. On the lower version they are replaced by a single bewigged figure annotated as 'S[i]r J[ohn]. Jennings showing a / Plan of p[ar]t of ye Hospital to ye / Prince' : Admiral Jennings was the Hospital Governor, 1720-43. Jennings shows a plan of the incomplete Hospital to the Prince of Wales. As in so many other areas of the scheme, an allegorical treatment was ultimately preferred and so all of the admirals were dismissed. On both versions George is annotated below, 'P. Wales', with Thornhill annotated on the pillar base at the bottom only, 'J Thornhill / showing ye / Painting'. As executed in the Upper Hall, the figures of the Prince and Thornhill are also posed as shown here. Between them, however, stands the female figure of Britannia with a trident, holding up a list of British naval victories, presumably that shown here by the admiral in the top sketch. Lower left and right are two collectors' marks, VH (J. Van Haecken) and a monogram TH (Thomas Hudson).

The presence of Thornhill himself is the most interesting element of these sketches and this area of the wall as executed. Wearing the dress of an early eighteenth-century gentleman, Thornhill gestures towards George I, the king who conferred his knighthood in 1720 (an honour signified by the red riband worn by the artist in the painted scheme). The annotation indicates that the figure of Thornhill is also drawingthe viewers attention to the painting more generally; both to the subject matter depicted and to the lavishly painted surface itself.

According to the 1922 catalogue of the Naval Gallery in the Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital, this drawing (the only one known of the subject) was presented to the Hospital by James 'Athenian' Stuart in 1781. It was certainly listed as on display in the 1893 catalogue of the Royal Naval Museum and is likely also one of the 5 drawings that were listed in the 1876 catalogue. It also includes earlier collectors' marks.