The Borghese Warrior (Grisaille Paintings of Classical Statuary: a set of eight reproductions of celebrated antiques with the addition of niches, pedestals, classical masonry, trees, etc.)
Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705 - 1772)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1765
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
724 x 978 mm (28 1/2 x 38 1/4 in)
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 872548
Caption
The Borghese Warrior, mistakenly called Gladiator was found in 1611, near the sea, south of Rome and was in the Villa Borghese until Camillo Borghese was forced to sell it to his brother-in-law, Napolean Bonaparte in 1807. It is now in the Louvre, Paris. Several copies of the statue can be found in country houses in England including Petworth (NT) and Knole (NT). This is one of a set of eight paintings of celebrated classical antique marble statues from ancient Greek statuary, painted in grisaille (grey-green monochrome colour) by Louis-Gabriel Blanchet in 1765 with the addition of niches, pedestals and trees. The set was probably commissioned as souvenirs, by John Parker, MP (1734/5 – 1788) during his Grand Tour of Italy, with his first wife, in 1764, and may have occupied a garden building at Saltram.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Borghese Warrior (Grisaille Paintings of Classical Statuary: a set of eight reproductions of celebrated antiques with the addition of niches, pedestals, classical masonry, trees, etc.) by Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705-1772), signed (very faintly) bottom right on second stip of plinth: L.G. Blanchet.
Provenance
History not known, but from their date probably commissioned by John Parker, later Lord Boringdon, on his Grand Tour; then, from the absence of any reference to them in catalogues or inventories and their plain white frames, probably set into the walls of some garden building; given to the National Trust as part of the endowment by Montagu Brownlow Parker, 5th Earl of Morley (1878-1962)
Credit line
Saltram, The Morley Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
Louis Gabriel Blanchet (1705 - 1772) , artist