This is traditionally said to be a portrait of the Englishman John Scott, who bought the estate at Banks Fee, near Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire, in 1753. During the early 1770s – around the same time as this work was produced – Scott did travel to Rome, where the famous portraitist Batoni worked. The city was a popular destination for English gentleman on their Grand Tour of Europe.
The sitter’s gaze is directed towards the lower right, as if he has been distracted by something out of view. He holds a walking stick and black hat, and leans on a stone plinth of a kind that would display a classical sculpture, which is inscribed with the date 1774. His shimmering blue silk coat, fur lined and trimmed with exquisite silver thread, stands out against a shadowy background.
Batoni did not invent the Grand Tour portrait but he made it his own, dominating the market with his precise drawing, high degree of finish and freshness of colour.
This is is traditionally said to be a portrait of the Englishman John Scott, who bought the estate at Banks Fee, near Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire, in 1753. During the early 1770s – around the same time as this work was produced – Scott did travel to Rome, where the famous portraitist Batoni worked. The city was a popular destination for English gentleman on their Grand Tour of Europe.
Here, the sitter’s gaze is directed towards the lower right and his mouth is slightly open; it’s as if he has been distracted by something or someone just out of view. He rests one hand on a walking stick and holds a black hat in the other. His formal wig is neatly tied back with a black ribbon, and his shimmering blue silk coat, fur-lined and trimmed with exquisite silver thread – perhaps an Italian-bought luxury – stands out against a plain, shadowy background. Batoni was highly skilled at creating texture, something that can be appreciated here in the creases of the waistcoat, which emphasise the sitter’s form, and in the details of the lace scarf and sleeves.
The stone plinth that the sitter leans against is inscribed with Batoni’s signature and the date 1774. A plinth of this kind would display a classical bust or sculpture, or a decorative urn. These objects appeared in many of Batoni’s portraits, and alluded to the sitter being learned and well travelled (see Portrait of Richard Miles, for example).
Batoni was among the most famous Roman portraitists of his time, and many Englishmen visited his studio in Rome. He did not invent the Grand Tour portrait and some of the features associated with his work, such as the three-quarter view or the array of carefully positioned objects or props, were used by portraitists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But he did make it his own, dominating the market with his precise drawing, high degree of finish and freshness of colour.
