Capriccio of Roman Ruins by the Sea with Preparations for a Sacrifice
attributed to Giovanni Ghisolfi (Milan c.1623 - Milan 1683)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1660 - 1680
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1390 x 1800 x 90 mm; 16 kg (Weight)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 1514001
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Capriccio of Roman Ruins by the Sea with Preparations for a Sacrifice, attributed to Giovanni Ghisolfi (Milan 1623 – Milan 1683), circa 1660/80. The ruins of the Temple of Concord and of Jupiter Tonans are in the left foreground and the centre, with the Pyramid of Cestius seen before them; the Arch of Constantine stands on a spit of land in the middle distance on the right, with a distant view of a city by the sea beyond. In the centre and right foreground a blue-caparisoned bull is led to be sacrificed by a priest with attendant trumpeters, besides a statue of the Farnese Hercules. In the left foreground are architectural and sculptural fragments, on one of which a magpie perches, and an urn. There are sundry other figures, an ox being driven towards an archway, and a dog.
Provenance
The Pettiward family, originally of Putney, but later of Finborough Hall, Suffolk, to which Robert John Pettiward (né Bussell) (c. 1819 - 1908), son of Frances Pettiward and Robert Bussell succeeded, taking over the name of Pettiward in 1856 [the frame would suggest that the picture was acquired by him – possibly by marriage to Lady Frances Nelson (m.1855; d. 1877), eldest daughter of Thomas Bolton, 2nd Earl Nelson - he having only had nine daughters, was succeeded by his cousin Charles Pettiward (né Terry, 1855-1933; m. Eliza Gamlen, d. of Robert Gamlen of New Place, Welwyn, in 1904); his son, Roger Gamelyn Pettiward (1906-1942, m. Diana, dau. of Frederick Berners-Wilson of the Hardwick, Abergavenny, in 1935); his son Charles Pettiward (b.1936), of the Hardwick, Abergavenny, by whom given to the National Trust, to put where it liked, in 2002; in store at Osterley (for which, eventually destined) 2002-2008; restored and installed in the boardroom of the National Trust’s Office at 32, Queen Anne’s Gate, in October 2008 and transferred to the Grosvenor Gardens London office in September 2012
Credit line
The Pettiward Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: printed label of: CASE & SONS DEPOSITORIES, SALISBURY: Mrs Pettiward (typed) No.95 (written)
Makers and roles
attributed to Giovanni Ghisolfi (Milan c.1623 - Milan 1683), artist
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, 46