Personification of History writing on the Back of Time
Andrea Casali (Rome 1705 - Rome 1784)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1760 - circa 1765
Materials
oil on canvas
Measurements
2311 x 2464 mm (91 x 97 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dyrham, Gloucestershire
NT 453807
Caption
The winged female figure here is a characteristic personification of History, writing in a book resting on the back of Father Time. He in turn is shown with his traditional attributes of a scythe and an hourglass next to him. This is one of five ceiling paintings at Dyrham Park by Andrea Casali. They were all painted for Alderman William Beckford (1709–1770), for his house, Fonthill Splendens, in Wiltshire. They were sold from Fonthill in 1801 and later installed in the ceiling of the Theatre Royal in Bath. Colonel George William Blathwayt (1797–1871) bought them for Dyrham Park in 1845.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Personification of History writing on the Back of Time, by Andrea Casali (Rome 1705 - Rome 1784), early 1760s. The winged, elderly male figure of Time is seated on a cloud, draped in golden and red robes, holding a scythe in his right hand and balancing an hour-glass by his left hand. He supports on his shoulders a large book, onto which a winged female figure is poised to write. Clothed in white and pink, and draped in gold, this female figure, indentified as History, holds a quill in her right hand and a trumpet in her left, around which foliage is wound. She looks up to the right of the composition as if for inspiration.
Provenance
Painted for Alderman William Beckford (1709-1770) for Fonthill Splendens, Wiltshire; Fonthill sale, 1801; ? bought by Paul Methuen of Corsham and presented by him in 1802 to the City of Bath, or ? bought by William Evill on behalf of Dimond, joint proprietor of the Theatre Royal, Bath; built into the ceiling of the Theatre Royal, Bath; purchased by Colonel Blathwayt for Dyrham Park in 1845; thence by descent; Indigenous collection purchased by Ministry of Works in 1956 and given to Dyrham Park in 1961
Credit line
Dyrham Park, The Blathwayt Collection (acquired by the Ministry of Works via the National Land Fund in 1956, and transferred to the National Trust)
Makers and roles
Andrea Casali (Rome 1705 - Rome 1784), artist
References
Croft-Murray 1962-1970: Edward Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, 1537 - 1837 (2 vols), 1962-1970, vol.II, p.182