Palazzo della Rocella and the Casino of M. Hamilton (Sir William Hamilton's Casino at Posillipo)
Louis-François Cassas (Azay-le-Ferron 1756 - Versailles 1827)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1780
Materials
Graphite on paper
Measurements
207 x 313 mm
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 849429
Summary
Graphite on paper, Palazzo della Rocella and the Casino of M. Hamilton (Sir William Hamilton's Casino at Posillipo) by Louis-François Cassas (Azay-le-Ferron 1756 – Versailles 1827), 1780. 47. Vue du Palais de la Rocella et du Casin de M. Hamiltion. A view in Posillipo, west of Naples which shows the Palazzo della Rocella (now called Villa Chierchia) and the ruins of Palazzo Donn’Anna, previously of Queen Joanna (II of D’Anjou). 48. Top right. Mounted. ARD imprinted on mount. Sir William Hamilton KB, PC, FRS (1731 – 1803) was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and vulcanologist. After a short period as a Member of Parliament, he served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples from 17 November 1764 to (in Palermo in 1798) until 1800. He and his first wife Catherine (d. 1782) had their main residence at Palazzo Sessa, Naples as well as this small villa on the seashore at Posillipo. They also had a house at Portici, Villa Angelica, from where he could study Mount Vesuvius, and a house at Caserta near the Royal Palace.
Provenance
One of 200 drawings (Catalogue des principaux dessins et les mieux soignis, faits et finis sur les lieuxs et d’après nature, par L. F. Cassas, appartenant à Lord Bristol) either obtained from the artist by Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803) through Louis-Antoine Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, duc de Rohan-Chabot (1733 - 1807) or more likely, sold to Frederick William Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol, MP, FRS, FSA (1769-1859) by the widow of Alexandre-Louis Auguste, duc de Rohan-Chabot (1761 – 1816), son of the artist’s patron, Anne-Louise-Madeleine-Élénore de Montmorency, duchesse de Rohan-Chabot (1771-1828) in around 1822; and thence by decent until acquired by the National Trust under the auspices of the National Land Fund (later National Heritage Memorial Fund) in 1956
Credit line
Ickworth, The Bristol Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1956)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: ARD - mounter's dry stamp (unidentified 18th century (Lugt 172) Recto: Top right - 48 Verso: Black chalk - 20
Makers and roles
Louis-François Cassas (Azay-le-Ferron 1756 - Versailles 1827)
References
Voyages en Italie de Louis-François Cassas, 1756-1827 (ed. Annie Gilet) exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, 21 November 2015 - 22 February 2016, fig. 2, p. 178