Hop down to Sherborne to see 'The Joy of the Frog'

An historic centrepiece at The Sherborne, Dorset, James Thornhill’s vivid mural 'In Pursuit of the Boar' celebrates its 300th anniversary this year.  The Sherborne pays homage to Dorset’s own master of baroque decorative painting with a corresponding mural created specially for them in 2026 by Quentin Blake.

Adorning the modern atrium staircase, Quentin’s new work, The Joy of the Frog, acts as a playful counterpoint to Thornhill’s dramatic composition, bringing a contemporary burst of movement, humour and imagination to The Sherborne’s historic interior. 

“Installed during the 300th anniversary year of the completion of Sir James Thornhill’s The Calydonian Boar Hunt, it creates a wonderful juxtaposition between two very different worlds inspired by storytelling, transformation and spectacle,” says Liz Gilmore, CEO of The Sherborne. 

“Where Thornhill’s mural surges with mythic drama and heroic pursuit, Quentin’s offers something lighter on its feet: a joyous frog on a mischievous journey through a world of music, creativity, play and comic theatre. There is something rather delicious in the contrast, from boar hunt to frog leap, from Baroque grandeur to Quentin’s unmistakable wit and airy line. Both works, in their own ways, are full of motion, character and narrative energy.”

 

The journey begins at ground level, where the frog sits beside a speaker with a scroll while opposite, a janitor stands with a large pail on wheels. Just beyond, tucked near the door, a man carries a large package. For the viewer it is as though we are stepping quietly into the wings of a theatre, moments before a magical performance begins.

 

As visitors then ascend the staircase, Quentin’s imaginative world starts to unfurl and scale becomes gleefully unstable. An opera singer sends three musicians skyward with the force of her voice: a violinist, a triangle player and a trumpeter, from whose instrument the frog suddenly bursts into view. Higher still, we encounter an artist at work, children at play, with the frog woven into their games, and a photographer poised to capture the moment. An Elvis-style singer appears, graciously receiving flowers from an adoring fan, while a boy with balloons drifts upwards towards the highest stretch of the stairs. At the very top, the frog reappears one last time, leaping towards an outstretched medal-giver, as though the whole joyful ascent has been building to this gloriously absurd reward.

 

“It is a mural that feels perfectly at home at The Sherborne: playful yet carefully composed, contemporary yet in conversation with the house’s historic heart,” Gilmore observes, adding: “In this tercentenary year, The Joy of the Frog offers a spirited new counterbalance to Thornhill’s great mural, reminding us that walls can hold both grandeur and glee, and that imagination, whether Baroque or Blakean, is always capable of lifting us.”

 
The Joy of the Frog is a continuing installation at The Sherborne, Dorset.  The gallery is free to enter, and is open daily.  For more information and opening times, see https://www.thesherborne.uk/plan-your-visit