St James's Organ Case

Image credit: St James's Church, Piccadilly, London

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Notes

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The organ case at St James’s Church was originally commissioned for King James II’s Roman Catholic Chapel at Whitehall Palace. After the Glorious Revolution in 1688, James fled overseas and in the early 1690s elements of the chapel were repurposed elsewhere. After a petition from the parishioners of St James’s, the organ and organ case were gifted to the church by Queen Mary, James II’s daughter. They were installed in 1691, five years after the church’s consecration. The organ case is the work of seventeenth century sculptor, Grinling Gibbons, one of Britain’s most famous and renowned woodcarvers. Rather unusually it has been gilded, Gibbon’s generally preferred to use natural tones of wood, in particular lime wood which can be seen on the church’s reredos.

St James's Piccadilly

Title

St James's Organ Case

Date

1680s

Medium

wood

Accession number

7

Work type

Sculpture

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Normally on display at

St James's Piccadilly

197 Piccadilly, Greater London W1J 9LL England

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