The Hub of the World

A resplendent portrait of Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico (1724–1799) that has remained in the sitter’s family until the last decade.

A superb fusion of Desprez’s sense of fantasy, drama and architectural splendor, this monumental work was owned by the Danish architect Gottfried Schaper (1775-1851) and businessman Benjamin Wolff (1790-1866).

Painted for Ferdinand IV, King of Naples (1751-1825) and kept in the family until 2005, this is a masterpiece by Hackert. It documents the harvesting and processing of hemp in Caserta.

Originally paired with the example in the Robert Lehman collection, this table belonged to the Egyptian Room in the Palazzo Borghese, designed by Asprucci for Pauline Bonaparte.

A unique view of The ‘Casino’ of Cardinal Annibale Albani, recorded in his 1724 inventory.

Painted during David’s sojourn in Rome, A Vestal counts William Randolph Hearst amongst its recent owners.

A sensitive and highly refined drawing that relates to a painting by the artist, also on view in our exhibition.

An intensely poetic depiction of Saint Louis Gonzaga that comes from the apogee of Batoni’s early maturity.

Formerly owned by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782), this Roman antique sculpture was restored by the Settecento sculptor Cavaceppi.

A superb Mediterranean port scene painted on an unusually large scale for a work on copper commissioned by Antoine VIII (1722–1801), duc de Gramon.

A portrait bust of Ulysses based on an ancient prototype, a bust bought in the 18th century by Lord Bristol, Bishop of Derry.

A set of oil on coppers depicting scenes from James Thomson’s poetry cycle, The Seasons, most likely commissioned by the engraver and publisher Charles Taylor (1756–1823).

An early Reynolds caricature probably painted for one of the sitter’s close friend, Joseph Leeson, 2nd Earl of Milltown (1730-1801), in whose family it remained for over 250 years.

An exquisite drawing in pencil and charcoal that suggests the three dimensionality of a relief sculpture, the artform in which Deare excelled.

A set of four studies of classical polychrome marble with Ghezzi’s distinctive handwriting beneath.

Dating from the eight years Fuseli spent in Rome, this is a highly original interpretation of the Old Testament previously in the collection of American architect Ian Woodner (1903–1990).

A superb modello dated to the decade of Giaquinto’s Roman period, ca. 1740, depicting the artist’s favorite subject of the Trinity.

A terracotta designed with Clodion’s characteristic wit and modeled with an unexcelled mastery of the medium.

Formerly in the collection of Anthony M. Clark, this is the only painted caricature in Ghezzi’s oeuvre and depicts the Neapolitan painter Paolo de Matteis (1662-1728).

Nolli’s celebrated 1748 map of Rome, known as La Nuova Pianta di Roma, which became the model for every subsequent 18th-century urban map in Europe.

A large drawing depicting the façade and plan of a structure constructed by Cardinal Alessandro Albani at his villa on the Via Salaria.

A dramatic nocturnal scene recorded in the 1911 inventory of the collection of Principessa Anna Corsini Barberini.

This double portrait of English Grand Tourists belonged to the Roman art historian Andrea Busiri Vici d’Arcevia (1903–1989), who included it in the seminal 1959 Il Settecento a Roma exhibition.

A recently discovered view of Tivoli formerly kept in the collection of William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne.

Commissioned from the artist by Prince Luigi Boncompagni Ludovisi (1767–1841), Ariadne (or Cleopatra) is a reduction of the sculpture in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican.

A lighthearted view of the Villa Medici first owned by the comte de Badouin and only known through a 1775 engraving until recently.

A pair of gilt-bronze and silver mirrors by the Messina-born Juvarra, known as the ‘Sicilian Cellini’.

A terracotta preparatory model made for Giorgetti’s marble Angel with the Sponge at the Ponte Sant’Angelo, Rome.

A monumental watercolor from the artist’s Roman period that has been kept in the same family for over two centuries.

A pair of monumental candelabra depicting Antinous-Osiris, based on neo-Egyptian prototypes in Hadrian’s Villa.

A highly finished drawing depicting Achilles being tricked by Ulysses into revealing his true identity. It belongs to a group of drawings acquired by the Toulousain Baron de Puymaurin in the early 1770s.

A 1769 first edition, first issue of Piranesi’s Diverse Maniere, a compendium of designs that includes his celebrated Egyptian-style mural decoration for the Caffè degli Inglesi.

An exceptionally well-preserved marble copy of an ancient bust in the Musei Capitolini usually identified as Faustina the Younger. It belongs to a very small number of Harwood’s busts which are both signed and dated.

Anthony Clark believed that Giaquinto, despite his southern roots, was essentially a Roman artist and this canvas shows Giaquinto at his most Roman.

The preparatory sketch for Wicar’s last great history painting from 1826, now in the Worcester Art Museum.

A caricature from Ghezzi’s ‘Polignac album’ depicting Monsieur du Tilloy.