Taking as their theme the vivid and arcane origin myths of Britain, the latest works by renowned cartographer Adam Dant revive the long lost art of ‘The Painted Cloth’ and the role of The Painter Stainer in context of British Contemporary Art.

Once a common alternative to tapestries, decorative wall paintings and panelling, The Painted Cloths commissioned from The Worshipful Company of The Painter-Stainers would have hung in the palaces of the nobility as well as in the modest homes of folk who nonetheless could also interpret and appreciate the classical, biblical and mythological themes depicted and described in bright layers of colour and lively, cursive line.

Inspired by the work of The London Society of Antiquaries Adam Dant animates objects and images from its collection across several large painted cloths to render for the modern world, stories which would have been familiar as subject matter to the likes of Inigo Jones, Ben Jonson and Henry Purcell before the medium was superseded by wallpapers and various other decorative contingencies.

Origin stories such as those described by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudo-history of the lineage of British Rulers include how Brutus and his Trojans founded New Troy on the banks of The Thames, how the disembodied head of ‘Bran The Blessed’ came to be buried at The White Hill as one of the nations ‘Palladiums’ as well as how a race of monstrous giants came to be wandering the islands of Albion.

These stories have also inspired Dant in his current role as official artist to The Lord Mayor of London 2024/25.

In addition to these impressive and engaging paintings is a display of Adam Dant’s latest associated maps and charts which further explore and reveal the colliding and coalescing common histories of British mythology. These include a convincing lineage of British rulers tracing the monarchy of King Charles lll directly back to the Greek God Zeus, personifications of ‘The Guardians of London’s Lost Rivers’ as well as cartographic guides to all manner of mythic realms, Theatrical, Criminal and Crypto-Zoological.

Several events are planned whereby the artist will reveal in conversation and practical display the details of his methods, motivations and inspirations.