cheverell's sermon upon 'false
brethren.'[927] Dr. Welton, Rector of Whitechapel, put up at this
juncture in his church a painted altar-piece in representation of the
Last Supper, with Bishop Kennet conspicuous in it as Judas Iscariot. 'To
make it the more sure, he had the doctor's great black patch put under
his wig upon the forehead.'[928] It need hardly be added that the Bishop
of London ordered the picture to be taken down.[929]

Sir Christopher Wren had intended to adorn the dome of St. Paul's with
figures from sacred history, worked in mosaic by Italian artists. He was
overruled. It was thought unusual, and likely also to be tedious and
expensive.[930] But there were some who cherished a hope that some such
embellishment was postponed only, not abandoned. Walter Harte, for
example, the Nonjuror, in his poem upon painting, trusted that 'the cold
north' would not always remain insensible to the claims of religious
art. The time would yet come when we should see in our churches,

Above, around, the pictured saints appear,

and when especially the metropolitan cathedral would be radiant with the
pictorial glory which befitted it.

Thy dome, O Paul, which heavenly views adorn,
Shall guide the hands of painters yet unborn;
Each melting stroke shall foreign eyes engage,
And shine unrivalled through a future age.[931]

The question was brought forward in a practical shape in 1773. Two years
earlier the State apartments at old Somerset Palace had been granted by
the King to the Royal Academy. The chapel was included in the gift; and
it was soon after suggested, at a general meeting of the society, 'that
the place would afford a good opportunity of convincing the public of
the advantages that would arise from ornamenting churches and cathedrals
with works of art.'[932] This proposal was highly approved of by the
society, and many of its members at once volunteered their services.
Their president, however, Sir Joshua Reynolds, proposed a bolder scheme.
He thought they should 'undertake St. Paul's Cathedral.' The amendment
was carried unanimously. Application was accordingly made to the Dean
and Chapter, who were pleased with the offer. Dean Newton, Bishop of
Bristol, a great lover of pictures, was particularly favourable to the
scheme, and warmly advocated it.[933] Sir Joshua promised 'The
Nativity'; West offered his picture of 'Moses with the Laws'; Barry,
Dance, Cipriani, and Angelica Kauffman enga