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拍品专文
Born in the Tuscan village of Pitigliano, Francesco Zuccarelli underwent his early training in Florence, possibly with Paolo Anesi, and then in Rome with Giovanni Maria Morandi, Pietro Nelli and perhaps Andrea Locatelli. In Rome he was able to absorb the great tradition of European landscape painting, from Claude through to the eighteenth century, and carry these lessons first back to Florence and then to Venice, where he settled in 1732. There he immediately succeeded as a painter of pastoral landscapes, enjoying the patronage of the most illustrious collectors of the time: Francesco Algarotti, Marshal Schulenburg and Consul Smith, the latter playing a key role in the development of the artist's career in Venice and abroad.
Zuccarelli's work proved extremely popular with both Italian patrons and tourists on the Grand Tour. His particular success with the latter no doubt encouraged him to travel to England in 1752, just as other established Italian artists such as Sebastiano Ricci, Carlo Pellegrini and Canaletto had done earlier, in search of new clients and greater prestige. He remained in England for ten years, returning to Venice in 1763 on becoming a member of the Venetian Academy. The fame and success that he achieved in England proved to be a strong lure, and he returned to London in 1765, becoming a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768, where he was a regular exhibitor.
A fine example of Zuccarelli's English period, this picture formed part of the collection of the Earls of Chichester and hung in Stanmer House in East Sussex until shortly after the Second World War. The composition is comparable to the Rape of Europa in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice, the latter executed circa 1750, whilst some individual characters are closely repeated in other known works, such as the fleeing Actaeon on the left, who is similar to the huntsman in a collaborative work with Antonio Visentini from 1746-47 (see F. Spadotto, Francesco Zuccarelli, Milan, 2007, p. 244, no. 159).
CAPTION: The drawing room at Stanmer House, Sussex, with the present lot seen on the right
Zuccarelli's work proved extremely popular with both Italian patrons and tourists on the Grand Tour. His particular success with the latter no doubt encouraged him to travel to England in 1752, just as other established Italian artists such as Sebastiano Ricci, Carlo Pellegrini and Canaletto had done earlier, in search of new clients and greater prestige. He remained in England for ten years, returning to Venice in 1763 on becoming a member of the Venetian Academy. The fame and success that he achieved in England proved to be a strong lure, and he returned to London in 1765, becoming a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768, where he was a regular exhibitor.
A fine example of Zuccarelli's English period, this picture formed part of the collection of the Earls of Chichester and hung in Stanmer House in East Sussex until shortly after the Second World War. The composition is comparable to the Rape of Europa in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice, the latter executed circa 1750, whilst some individual characters are closely repeated in other known works, such as the fleeing Actaeon on the left, who is similar to the huntsman in a collaborative work with Antonio Visentini from 1746-47 (see F. Spadotto, Francesco Zuccarelli, Milan, 2007, p. 244, no. 159).
CAPTION: The drawing room at Stanmer House, Sussex, with the present lot seen on the right