拍品專文
The Grand Tour in the late 18th Century was the single most influential factor on the English gentleman's collecting taste and education. Jonas Brooke, heir to the Mere Hall estates in Cheshire was no exception and in 1783 departed from London with his tutor John Parkinson, bound for Naples, Rome, Tivoli, Florence, Venice and Milan. Much of the trip was occupied with the study of Classical Antiquity, but Jonas Brooke, like many Tourists, found time to make some purchases, as well as sitting to Hugh Douglas Hamilton. Sadly, whilst in Milan, he was cruelly struck down by a fever and died on 19 July 1784.