Copy of the Aldobrandini Wedding
Italian (Roman) School
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
circa 1820
Materials
Watercolour and bodycolour on paper
Measurements
283 x 845 mm (11⅛ x 33¼ in)
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 872224
Summary
Watercolor and bodycolour on paper, Copy of the Aldobrandini Wedding, Italian school, circa 1820. This is a copy - with colours strengthened, doubtless with the intention of recapturing those of the original when first discovered - of the Augustan era fresco of a Roman wedding, found in a subterranean chamber near the church of San Giuliano on the Esquiline Hill in Rome in 1601, and acquired by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini - whence its name - for a garden pavilion of his villa on the Quirinal. It passed successively through the collections of Vincenzo Camuccini and Vincenzo Nelli, before being acquired by the Vatican Museum in 1818. Classical figures in various poses playing musical instruments, grouped outside the walls of a city. Painted in blues, browns and whites within a stylized border in then same colouring. On 2 September 1775, Mrs. John Parker wrote to her brother, 2nd Baron Grantham: 'I have just finished the best Drawing I ever did in its way. it is a copy of the three end figures in the Aldobrandini Marriage. I believe I mentioned Lord Shelburnes giving me a Drawing of that Painting that he had brought from Rome which I think done in the most beautiful manner that can be imagined, I suppose it to be done in thick colouring & very highly finished, mine is only washed and not to be named with it as you may imagine' (Add MS 48218, Morley Papers, f. 169)
Provenance
Given to the National Trust as part of the endowment by Montagu Brownlow Parker, 5th Earl of Morley (1878-1962)
Credit line
Saltram, The Morley Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
Italian (Roman) School, artist Italian School, artist