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On canvas: a Roman holiday in the 1700s
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard19.02.08
The National Gallery is offering a rare chance to see dozens of paintings by a neglected Italian master.
Pompeo Batoni was once the most fashionable portrait painter in Rome and his skills were much in demand among the British upper classes.
From tomorrow, 60 of the 18thcentury painter's works, many on loan from around the world, can be seen at the National. It is the gallery's first comprehensive show of his work in four decades.
Batoni, who lived from 1708 to 1787, was a favourite of British and Irish travellers on their Grand Tour.
The artist painted them against backdrops of the monuments and vistas of classical Rome. Exhibition highlights include a portrait of Sir Gregory Page-Turner, an MP and landowner whose estates once included much of Blackheath. He is pictured in a vivid red goldtrimmed frock suit, with the Colosseum in the background. Another sitter, Colonel William Gordon, chose to be painted at the same site in a kilt with his family tartan.
Other subjects of Batoni include actor David Garrick and travel writer Henry Swinburne.
Batoni also specialised in scenes from history and mythology, such as the 1761 work Diana Breaking Cupid's Bow, religious paintings, and allegorical pieces such as Time Orders Old Age To Destroy Beauty.
Curator Dawson Carr said: "Batoni was the most wonderful painter of 18th century Rome. He was one of the greatest image-makers of the British, but people forget he was equally great at historical paintings."
Batoni's works have barely been shown in the last 200 years. Some of those on show have been lent by the Vatican and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 6pm until 18 May. Tickets are £8.
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