Marchese Niccolò Maria Pallavicini (1650-1714) guided to the Temple of Virtù by Apollo with a Self-portrait of the Artist
Carlo Maratta (Camerano 1625 – Rome 1713)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1705 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2997 x 2120 mm (118 x 83 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732098
Caption
This picture celebrates the glory of Niccolò Maria Pallavicini (1650-1714), a well-known patron of the arts in Rome. Wearing an heroic red robe, the Marchese is receiving an apotheosis, before the artist himself and Apollo who is pointing the way to the Temple of Virtù. Above him, an angel or ‘Glory’ hovers with a laurel branch and a pipe. The artist, wearing the Papal Order of Christ cross around his neck, sits in front of a canvas with his paintbrush at the ready. Behind him are the Three Graces and beyond the figure of Pallas is instructing Fame to inscribe the Marchese's name in letters of gold on her shield. Bought by Horace Mann from Pallavicini’s heirs, the Marchesi Arnaldi, in Florence in 1758, for Henry II Hoare. William Kent was simultaneously acquiring pictures from the same collection for Sir Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale, now at Kedleston Hall (NT).
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Marchese Niccolò Maria Pallavicini (1650-1714) guided to the Temple of Virtù by Apollo with a Self-portrait of the Artist by Carlo Maratta (Camerano 1625 - Rome 1713), the painting is signed and dated on the back of the canvas held by the artist, in large letters, above stretcher: CM; and below stretcher: 1705. Pallavicini, a celebrated patron of the arts, stands before the artist, Carlo Maratta, and Apollo, the central figure, whose left hand is raised pointing to the Temple of Virtù, on top of a hill in the background right. The Marchese stands on the left, in a heroic red robe receiving an apotheosis. Above him, an angel or Glory hovers with a laurel branch in his right hand and a pipe in his left. The artist sits in front of a canvas, on the right, with his paint brush in his right hand. He is wearing blue robes and the Papal Order of Christ cross around his neck. Behind the artist are nude figures, the Three Graces. In the central background, the figure of Pallas is instructing Fame to inscribe the Marchese's character in letters of gold on her shield: NICOLAVS/MARIA/MARCHIO/ PALLAVICINI/IAN.
Provenance
Marchese Niccolò Maria Pallavicini (1650-1714) and by descent to Tommaso Niccolò Maria Arnaldi; bought by Horace Mann (1701 - 1786) for Henry Hoare II (1705-1785) before 3 June 1758 from the Arnaldi collection in Florence; given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Carlo Maratta (Camerano 1625 – Rome 1713), artist
References
G. P. Bellori, Le Vite de' pittori, scultor, ed architetti moderni, Rome, 1632, p.90 Walpole 1927-28 Paget Toynbee (ed.), 'Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats, etc.', 1760-62, Walpole Society XVI, 1927 -28 pp. 9-80, p.16 Stourhead 1785 Schedule of Pictures left by Henry Hoare at his death, 1785 Colt Hoare 1818 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, A Description of the House and Gardens at Stourhead...with a Catalogue of the Pictures, Salisbury 1800, Bath 1818, rev. 1822, no.3 Hoare 1822 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, History of Modern Wiltshire (Hundred of Mere),1822 , p.78 Waagen 1854-7: Gustav Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 3 vols. (translated by Lady Eastlake) with a supplementary volume: Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, London, 1854-7, p.172 Stourhead 1898 Alda, Lady Hoare, Catalogue of Principal Paintings & Drawings at Stourhead July 6th 1898 (Ms.typescript), 1898 , no. 328 A. Mezzetti, 'Maratta', Rivista dell' Istituto Nazionale d'Archeologia e Storia dell' Arte, N.S. IV, 1955 , pp. 301, 316, 346, No. 158. Stourhead Wiltshire, 1992: List of Pictures, [National Trust; Anthony Mitchell & Alastair Laing] 1992