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THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

A VIEW OF PAESTUM IN EVENING LIGHT WITH MERRY TRAVELLERS AND AN ARTIST SKETCHING BELOW A STONE ARCH

measurements note
131 by 103.5 cm.; 51 1/2 by 40 3/4 in.

inscribed and dated on the reverse of the relining canvas: Vedata. Standi Soto. la. Porta./Dilla Cita di Pesto. Anno Jolli / 1738

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Sir James Gray (c.1708-1773), extraordinary envoy in Naples and later ambassador in Madrid, by 1767;
Samuel Ware (1781-1860), Hendon Hall, Middlesex;
By descent to his nephew Charles Nathaniel Cumberlege Ware (1807-1888);
Thence by family inheritance and descent to the present owner.

LITERATURE

Catalogue of the Hendon Hall Collection, MS. catalogue of c.1850, no. 35, reproduced in the form of an original watercolour by Frederick Earp (1827-1897);
M. McCarthy, "New Light on Thomas Major's 'Paestum' and later English Drawings of Paestum", in Paestum and the Doric Revival 1750-1830, exhibition catalogue, New York, National Academy of Design, 19 February - 30 March 1986, pp. 47-48;
R. Middione, Antonio Joli, Soncino 1995, p. 92, under cat. no. 25;
J. Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701-1800, London 1997, p. 424.

ENGRAVED:
By Thomas Major (1714/20-1799) for his book on The Ruins of Paestum, otherwise Posidonia, in Magna Graecia, London 1768, p. 43, reproduced (in engraved form) plate III, no. 2, with the caption: "This view was also taken in Presence of his Excellency Sir James Gray, and engraved from a fine painting in his collection".

NOTE

Though born in Modena, Joli travelled throughout Italy enjoying a successful career as a painter of vedute and capricci, principally aimed at the English Grand Tourists. Joli was one of the first artists to paint views of the three Doric temples at Paestum and a number of paintings of the site, seen from different vantage points, are known. Its popularity as a stop on the Grand Tour was such that Joli found a ready market for his views amongst his English clientele.¹ He painted the subject a number of times but the theatrical arch surrounding the present view appears to be unique in his ~uvre. The temples are shown from the East, just as they are in two other panoramic views of Paestum by Joli.² The introduction here of the arch and of the hole in the ruined wall, which allows us to see the third temple which would otherwise be hidden from view, is an ingenious way to draw us into the picture. The figures conversing in the foreground and the artist sketching lower left also serve the same purpose. The temples were also painted by Joli from the other side and at least two versions of that composition survive.³ Other paintings of Paestum by Joli include views taken from inside the temple structures, indicating that not only did he get very close to the ruins themselves but that he also probably executed a number of drawings in situ.⁴ As well as being used for his paintings, these drawings probably inspired Filippo Morghen's set of six engravings of views of Paestum (1766) and those produced two years later by Thomas Major, after paintings by Joli in the collection of Sir James Gray in 1767 (see under Engraved below).

Sir James Gray (c.1708-1783) travelled extensively to Italy and after a stay of almost a decade in Venice, he was appointed envoy extraordinary at Naples in 1753. He remained in that post until 1759 whereupon he was appointed plenipotentiary minister (until 1764). Whilst in Naples he took a keen interest in archeological excavations at Herculaneum and it may have been at around this time that he commissioned Joli to paint two views of Paestum, one of which was this painting. The views were only engraved in 1768, when Gray was ambassador in Madrid (1767-69), but it is likely that they were commissioned from the artist in the late 1750s, during Gray's sojourn in Naples. The caption on the engraving indicates that Joli drew or painted the scene in Gray's presence, and indeed a nobleman stands beside the artist sketching lower left (presumably Gray and Joli themselves). The inscription on the reverse of this painting, almost certainly transcribed from an old inscription on the original canvas, is reliable except that the date should more plausibly read 1758 (not 1738).⁵

This painting is next recorded in the celebrated collection at Hendon Hall, Middlesex, an early Georgian house, more recently infamous for being the hotel where the victorious England football team stayed the night before winning the 1966 World Cup. The house was sold by the executors of William, Marquis of Powis, in 1757 to James Clutterbuck, a financier, who acquired it for his friend David Garrick. Though his memorial was erected at Hendon, Garrick apparently never lived there, but he did arrange for his nephew the Rev. Carrington Garrick to live at Hendon, and Hendon Hall and its estate were left on trust for him on Garrick's death. In 1790 the house was sold to John Bond and in 1822 it was sold again to Brian Scotney, who added to the house the portico from the recently demolished Wanstead House, the stone bases and corinthian capitals having previously been taken from Canons after the death of the Duke of Chandos in 1744. Shortly afterwards, it was acquired by Samuel Ware who extended the house by adding a library and drawing room to house the collection.

A manuscript catalogue of the collection, listing over 200 paintings and sculptures, including this painting, was produced in 1850 with watercolour illustrations of most of the pictures by Frederick Earp (1827-1897), one of 'The Earps of Brighton', a family of watercolourists. Probably the most celebrated painting in the collection was a ceiling painting An Allegory of the Planets and Continents by Giambattista Tiepolo, gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by Mr. & Mrs. Charles Wrightsman in 1977. Another painting from the collection, a painting of A Shepherd Boy Pointing at Tobias and the Angel by Abraham Bloemaert, is in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The collection covered a wide range of artists including Veronese, Guardi, Boucher and Vernet. It also contained two views of London by Antonio Joli.

1. He painted such views for Lord Brudenell, Sir Thomas Gray and Sir William Hamilton. For the last of these, see C. Knight, "La quadreria di Sir William Hamilton a Palazzo Sessa", in Napoli Nobilissima, 1985, p. 55.
2. One sold, New York, Sotheby's, 24 January 2002, lot 46, and the other sold, London, Sotheby's, 9 December 1987, lot 27 (see M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli: opera pittorica, Venice 1999, cat. nos. W.3 & W.4, the latter reproduced fig. 96).
3. These paintings are in the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, and the other was sold, New York, Sotheby's, 7 October 1994, lot 168, and was later with Rob Smeets at the Maastricht TEFAF Fair in 1997 (reproduced in Manzelli, op. cit., cat. no. W.1, colour plate XLVI, and cat. no. W.2, fig. 95 respectively).
4. For a closer view of the temples see the painting formerly with P. & D. Colnaghi Ltd., London, 1978 (Manzelli, ibid., cat. no. W.5, fig. 97). For interior views of the Temple of Neptune see the painting sold, London, Christie's, 22 February 1992, lot 14, and that in Palazzo Reale, Caserta, inv. 1907-386 (ibid., cat. nos. W.6, & W.7, figs. 98-99).
5. The original inscription probably read: Veduta. Stando Sotto. la. Porta./Della Città di Pesto. Ant.nio Jolli / 1758. It was almost certainly mis-transcribed since Joli's other views of Paestum are datable to the late 1750s; see, for example, his painting at Caserta which is signed and dated 1759 (see Middione, under Literature, pp. 92-3, cat. no. 25, reproduced in colour).