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St Paul’s Cathedral Triptych

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King’s St Paul’s Cathedral Triptych is a masterful digital homage to the architectural grandeur and enduring cultural symbolism of Sir Christopher Wren’s 17th-century masterpiece. By distilling the cathedral’s baroque splendour into a modern, minimalist aesthetic, King juxtaposes the weight of history with the levity of contemporary visual language. The triptych format itself nods to the religious origins of such compositions, invoking Renaissance altarpieces while reimagining them through the lens of digital artistry.

The choice of color blocks—vivid red, stark white, and contemplative blue—offers a bold chromatic narrative. The red panel pulsates with vitality, evoking the fire of renewal that defined the cathedral’s construction after the Great Fire of London in 1666. It recalls T. S. Eliot’s poetic meditation on destruction and rebirth in The Four Quartets: “A condition of complete simplicity / (Costing not less than everything).” The blue, conversely, conveys tranquility and eternity, qualities often ascribed to the divine. The white, anchoring the center, serves as a neutral fulcrum, representing purity, balance, and the unadorned truth of form.

The loose, gestural lines of King’s rendering strip St Paul’s of its ornamental details, highlighting its essential structure. This approach aligns with the modernist dictum of “less is more,” famously championed by architect Mies van der Rohe, but it also harkens back to Wren’s own belief in the harmonious relationship between geometry and divinity. The triptych’s repetition emphasizes the cathedral’s universality while subtly questioning the ways it is consumed—both as a sacred site and as an emblem of London’s identity.

This work reverberates with a dialogue between the past and the present, embodying what John Ruskin once wrote: “Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts: the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art.” In this triptych, St Paul’s Cathedral transcends time, becoming both icon and idea, as monumental as it is mutable.

20 Hanover Square, W1

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In “20 Hanover Square” Mark King presents a deceptively simple line drawing that exudes both architectural precision and an ephemeral, almost dreamlike quality. The piece balances technical rigidity with a hand-drawn looseness, capturing not just the structure of a Georgian building but also its soul—a snapshot of place and memory that resonates beyond its physicality. This is not merely an illustration of a facade; it is an evocative exploration of urban nostalgia.

The building itself, with its orderly symmetry and rhythmic repetition of windows, speaks to a bygone era of architectural harmony. Each line, though imprecise, is imbued with intention, creating a tension between the rigid elegance of the building’s design and the organic imperfection of the artist’s hand. This tension elevates the piece from mere representation to commentary: it is as if the drawing acknowledges the impossibility of perfection while celebrating its pursuit.

The lack of shading or embellishment creates an austere immediacy, leaving the viewer to fill in the blanks. The artist’s sparing use of detail—a flicker of wrought iron on the balconies, the gentle slope of a dormer window—suggests an intimacy with the subject, as though the building has been observed not just with the eyes but with the heart. It feels lived-in, storied, and quietly dignified.

What makes “20 Hanover Square” truly compelling, however, is its universality. Though tethered to a specific address, it transcends its geographic specificity. It becomes, instead, an archetype of the urban experience—equal parts permanence and transience, history and present, structure and humanity. The drawing invites us to reconsider the spaces we inhabit, not just as physical environments but as vessels for memory, identity, and collective heritage.

Ultimately, this work is a masterful meditation on the poetics of place, executed with a simplicity that belies its profound depth.

Circa Respi