Art in Eighteenth-Century Rome

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

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

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

A caricature from Ghezzi’s ‘Polignac album’ depicting L’Abbé Conti, First Secretary to Cardinal Melchior de Polignac (1661–1742).

A caricature from Ghezzi’s ‘Polignac album’ depicting L’Abbé le Cocq, Chaplain to Cardinal Melchior de Polignac (1661–1742).

A caricature from Ghezzi’s ‘Polignac album’ depicting Pierre-Herman Dosquet, fourth Bishop of Quebec.

A caricature from Ghezzi’s ‘Polignac album’ depicting the French jeweler Rinaldo Le Vieux whose recipe for success was to charm Roman ladies in their homes.

A caricature from Ghezzi’s ‘Polignac album’ depicting Monsieur Promirail d’Avignon

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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).

A sun-splashed plein-air view of Naples by the Welsh artist Thomas Jones, who had lived in Rome between 1776–1780.

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

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.

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

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

This portrait of a dashing young officer in Napoleon’s army has recently been identified as Étienne Michaux (1771–1850). It is one of one of Gauffier’s final works.

Made at Queen’s Elm in Chelsea, as indicated by the initials ‘Q.E.’, this small double-sided drawing is a recent rediscovery that recalls the myth of Prometheus.

A narrowly defined view of the Colosseum’s outer gallery that had been in the collection of the art historian Alvar González-Palacios.

A photography of Anthony Morris Clark on loan to our exhibition from the National Gallery of Art Library, Washington D.C.

A selection of Anthony M. Clark’s personal notebooks on loan from the National Gallery of Art Library, Washington D.C.

In its formal definition and refined draftsmanship, this copper exemplifies the Bolognese master’s anticipation of a new 18th-century style.

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

A modello for a fresco in the Palazzo Chigi-Zondadari in Rome painted at the peak of the artist’s fame.

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).

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

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

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

First identified by Anthony Clark as a finished compositional study for an altarpiece in the Duomo of Naples, this is a rare and highly important example of Giaquinto’s graphic style.

Once part of the Galippe Album, this confident drawing by Pompeo Batoni is preparatory for the canvas Philosophy Reigning over the Arts in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

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

Dating to the mid-1750s, this is a fine example of the artist’s life drawing on a large sheet of paper.

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

This is a compositional oil sketch for an altarpiece commissioned in 1758 for the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in the Santissima Trinità in the Lombard town of Crema.

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

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

A vibrant nocturnal scene thought to be the pendant to the Beheading of St. John the Baptist recorded in the Barberini inventory of 1911.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

A portrait of the sculptor Canova by Appiani, well known through a number of engravings.

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.