GIOVANNI PAOLO PANINI (1691–1765)
the stairs: I.P. PANINI/ ROMÆ MDCCXXXI
Provenance
Acquired by Robert Jones II of Fonmon (1706– 1742) in Rome in 1731;
By descent to his son, Robert Jones III of Fonmon (1738–1793);
By descent to his son, Robert Jones IV (1773– 1834);
By inheritance to his nephew, Robert Oliver Jones (1811–1885);
By descent to his daughter, Edith Alicia Jones, who married Robert Arthur Valpy (1844–1894);
By descent to their daughter, Clara Valpy (1877– 1869), who married Sir Seymour Boothby (1866– 1951);
By descent in the Boothby family at Fonmon Castle, Vale of Glamorgan, To the present owner;
Until sold at Sotheby’s, London, 6 December 2023, lot 16;
Where acquired.
Literature
A Catalogue of the Pictures in Fonmon Castle 1743, MS D/DF F/190, Glamorgan Archives, Cardiff, no.25
A.D.Fraser Jenkins, ‘The Paintings at Fonmon Castle’, in S.Williams, Stewart Williams’ Glamorgan Historian, vol.7, Glamorgan 1971, p.65–66, reproduced
J.Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701–1800, New Haven and London 1997, p.561
This exceptional Roman architectural capriccio is a complex and powerful work by the undisputed master of the genre, Giovanni Paolo Panini. Alongside providing a visual checklist of ancient Rome’s iconic buildings and statuary, it also portrays the dramatic moment of the Roman Vestal Virgin Tuccia’s defiant defence of her honour in front of the city’s elite. This is one of Panini’s most ambitious and densely populated capricci, featuring - alongside antiquities – around 80 figures.
The signed and dated work was acquired by the grand tourist Robert Jones of Fonmon Castle (1706–1742), Glamorganshire, Wales, as part of group he amassed in the Eternal city between 1730–31. This is one of the rare instances in which a painting reappears on the market after nearly three centuries, featuring a single, unbroken provenance since it was acquired in the early 18th century, and together with the portrait of its first owner (also owned by the gallery).
Set within a reconstructed set of colonnades reminiscent of the Roman Forum, to the foreground on the left is the celebrated Farnese Hercules with the equally dramatic statues of the Dioscuri beyond. In this canvas, the artist has placed the most famous cultural landmarks at the back of the scene, including Trajan’s Column and the Arch of Constantine. This choice brings particular emphasis on the subject featured within the landscape, most notably the appearance on the right of a reconstructed Temple of Vesta.
We are proud to present this masterpiece carefully restored, now shining with the same luminous splendour that captivated its first owner, Robert Jones II of Fonmon, nearly three hundred years ago.