Landscape with Saint Peter Baptising
attributed to Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi, known as Il Bolognese (Bologna 1606 – Rome 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1626 - 1680
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
375 x 527 mm (14 3/4 x 20 3/4 in)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732227
Caption
Peter, leader of the twelve apostles, is recognisable by his gold cloak over a blue tunic. According to early accounts he went to Rome to establish a Christian community and was crucified there, upside down, by Nero in AD 64. Here, in a classical landscape, he is seen baptising the Roman centurion, Cornelius, the first Gentile to convert to the Christian faith, as told in the Book of Acts.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, Landscape with Saint Peter Baptising, attributed to Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi, known as Il Bolognese (Bologna 1606 – Rome 1680), in the manner of Domenico Zampieri Domenichino (Bologna 1581 - Naples 1641). The picture shows a classical landscape with a temple in the background on the left. Two large Roman pine trees intertwine in the centre and in front of them. On the right, Saint Peter, grouped with three other figures, is baptising a youth by a stream. On the left a man stands in a punt pushing his pole.
Provenance
In house by 1762 (HHII); 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)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: Inscribed on reverse (not contemporary) [of copper, presumably; backboarded, so not currently visible] Du Carrache Verso: Inscribed on back of frame in large ink script [apparently 18th century]: petit Bourdon: Verso: Inscribed on back of frame in pencil: Top Picture Right Handside of Entrance Hall Door
Makers and roles
attributed to Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi, known as Il Bolognese (Bologna 1606 – Rome 1680), artist manner of Domenico Zampieri Domenichino (Bologna 1581 - Naples 1641), artist
References
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, Sky-Light Room: "A Landscape, over the door, by Domenichino". ? 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, : "A Landscape H.H. Italian School; and marked in my old catalogue, by Domenichino"