God the Father and the Holy Spirit
Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 – Rome 1787)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1740 - 1743
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
73 x 60.5cm (28¾ x 23¾ in)
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Basildon Park, Berkshire
NT 266910
Caption
In this striking painting, the figures of God the Father and the Holy Spirit (in the form of a dove) are depicted in energetic movement. It is one in a set of twelve paintings of God the Father and the apostles by Pompeo Batoni, the acclaimed Roman artist of the Grand Tour. Batoni was probably inspired by an earlier set by Rubens, studio replicas of which were in the Pallavicini collection in Rome by 1665. The set was commissioned in 1740 by one of Batoni's most dedicated patrons, Count Cesare Merenda. Merenda acquired 30 paintings by Batoni and displayed them in his palace in Forlì, south-east of Bologna. The Merenda collection was dispersed in 1959. In addition to this painting of God the Father, seven paintings from this set now hang at Basildon Park.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, God the Father and the Holy Spirit by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 – Rome 1787), 1740-43. A half-length, illuminated by shaft of light above. He raises right hand in peace as dove flies away. Grey hair and beard, green tunic and purple cloak. Moulded gilt frame. Part of set of eight.
Provenance
Commissioned by Count Cesare Merenda (1700-1754) and Fra Giuseppe Merenda (1687-1760), for the picture-gallery of the Palazzo Merenda, Forlì, around 1740-43 remaining until 1945; Villa Merenda - Salecchi, near Forlì until 1959, when sold (probably via M. & C. Sestieri, Rome) to the dealer Julius Weitzner, London; with P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1959-60; by whom sold in 1960 to Lord & Lady Iliffe; by whom presented to the National Trust, together with the house and grounds of Basildon Park, and a substantial part of their collection of paintings, in 1979
Credit line
Basildon Park, The Iliffe Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 – Rome 1787), artist
References
Clark and Bowron 1985 Anthony M. Clark & Edgar Peters Bowron (ed.), Pompeo Batoni A Complete Catalogue of his Works with an Introductory Text, Oxford 1985, no. 74 Russell 1981 Francis Russell, 'Batoni at Basildon Park', National Trust Studies 1981, pp.35 - 42