Three Officers of the 12th Light Dragoons introduced at the Vatican Palace to Pope Pius VI

Location

Country: Holy See
City: Vatican City
Place: British Embassy

This print depicts the audience of Pope Pius VI with General Robert Browne Clayton in 1794. Clayton was stationed near Rome with his regiment, the 12th Light Dragoons. The Pope is said to have placed a Dragoon helmet on Browne’s head, with the prayer that truth and religion would triumph over injustice and infidelity. James Northcote’s painting of this event (after which this print was made) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804 under the title of Portraits of Three Officers of the 12th Light Dragoons, Introduced at the Vatican Palace to the Late Pope Pius VI. In the background, the artist has included the Castel Sant’Angelo and a ray of light, illuminating the Pope’s prayers.

James Northcote was born in Plymouth and moved to London in 1771. There he entered the Royal Academy Schools and worked as an assistant to Joshua Reynolds, first president of the Royal Academy. He travelled to Italy in 1777 and was elected to artists’ academies in Florence, Rome and Cortona. After returning to England in 1780 he established a practice as a portrait painter and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1781. Northcote was elected an Associate of the RA in 1786 and a full Academician the following year.
Samuel William Reynolds was a painter and engraver. Despite publishing his first prints in the mid-1790s, he found himself in debt by 1800 and came to rely upon the financial help of Samuel Whitbread MP. It was under Whitbread’s patronage that Reynolds was able to broaden his interests to include painting, architecture and landscape design. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy and British Institution and was also a collector; owning a group of drawings by Thomas Girtin. In 1809 he visited France for the first time and he went on to exhibit engravings at the Paris Salon in 1810 and 1812. Reynolds also worked in Paris on occasion, where he found a market for his paintings of landscapes and cottage scenes.

People

Robert Browne-Clayton ( - 1845), Captain Michael Head , Lieutenant the Hon. Pierce Butler , Giovanni Angelico Braschi) Pope Pius VI (1717 - 1799)

Places

Italy, Vatican City, Rome: Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome

Subjects

topography, group portrait, military uniform, boots, throne, flag, coat of arms, sword, officer (army), pope, column, carpet, chair

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

James Northcote (1746 - 1831)
Samuel William Reynolds (1773 - 1835)

Title

Three Officers of the 12th Light Dragoons introduced at the Vatican Palace to Pope Pius VI

Date

published March 1813

Medium

Mezzotint

Acquisition

Purchased from Colnaghi, June 1952

GAC number

1709