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Lot Essay
Thomas Patch was born in Exeter and in 1747 travelled to Rome, where he met Joshua Reynolds and worked in the studio of the French landscape painter Claude-Joseph Vernet. Expelled from the Papal States in 1755 for some miscreant act, he settled in Florence where he established a successful painting practice helped by his friendship with Sir Horace Mann, the British Envoy to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which gave him introductions to the touring British milordi. The latter were a key source of patronage and it was principally for this group that Patch executed his celebrated views in and around Florence.
This view is taken looking across the Piazza to the Loggia dei Lanzi in which Benvenuto Cellini's Judith with the head of Holophernes and Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines - two of the finest Renaissance sculptures - can be seen through the left and right arches respectively. To the left is the Palazzo Vecchio, while between, leading down to the Arno, is the faade of the Uffizi.
When sold at Christie's in 1921, the present work was offered with a companion picture, View of the Arno with the Ponte Santa Trinita, a version of which was sold in these Rooms, 18 April 1996, lot 35 (see fig.1).
This view is taken looking across the Piazza to the Loggia dei Lanzi in which Benvenuto Cellini's Judith with the head of Holophernes and Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines - two of the finest Renaissance sculptures - can be seen through the left and right arches respectively. To the left is the Palazzo Vecchio, while between, leading down to the Arno, is the faade of the Uffizi.
When sold at Christie's in 1921, the present work was offered with a companion picture, View of the Arno with the Ponte Santa Trinita, a version of which was sold in these Rooms, 18 April 1996, lot 35 (see fig.1).