View of St Peter’s with Castel S. Angelo, Rome

Location

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

This view of Rome by William Marlow shows St Peter’s and the Castel Sant’Angelo by the banks of the River Tiber. The view illustrated here was very popular among eighteenth-century collectors and tourists, and Marlow himself painted a number of versions of it. One of these versions belongs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the United States, while another belongs to the Government Art Collection. These versions differ only in small details, such as the placement of figures and boats in the foreground, and the inclusion of foliage. 

Perhaps one of the reasons why this view of St Peter’s and the Castel Sant’Angelo was such a popular one was that it included, in one image, landmarks of ancient Roman and Renaissance culture. Wealthy Europeans who undertook the Grand Tour would have been drawn to both aspects of Roman history. The Castel Sant’Angelo was begun in AD 130 under the emperor Hadrian and served as a mausoleum, before becoming a fortress in the fifth century. Its present name came from Pope Gregory the Great’s vision in AD 590 of the Archangel Michael. The statue of the archangel subsequently placed on top of the fortress can be clearly seen in this painting. In the late fourteenth century, the Castel Sant’Angelo became a private papal residence. St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Palace can be seen in Marlow’s painting, beyond the Ponte Sant’Angelo. 

Landscapist William Marlow was born in London or Southwark. He trained in the studio of marine painter Samuel Scott in Covent Garden (1756-61) and is also thought to have studied at the St Martin’s Lane Academy. Marlow spent his early career travelling around England in search of subjects; painting English country houses and the areas around Twickenham, Richmond, and the lower banks of the Thames. On the advice of the Duchess of Northumberland he travelled to France and Italy (1765-66). He exhibited at the Society of Artists, becoming Vice-President in 1778, and at the Royal Academy. Marlow lived for a time in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square). His one pupil was John Curtis. In c.1785 he retired to Twickenham, where he died aged 72.

Places

Italy, Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, Rome: Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome: Ponte Sant'Angelo, Rome

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, genre, townscape/cityscape, tree, river bank, river, hill, Italian, man, woman, flag, bridge (urban), house, fortification, church, dome

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

William Marlow (1740 - 1813)

Title

View of St Peter’s with Castel S. Angelo, Rome

Date

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 85.00 cm, width: 137.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Christie's, 11 March 1949

Inscription

bcl: W Marlow

Provenance

Collection of William Nevill of Stoke Newington; by descent to Mrs B. C. Bamber; by whom sold through Christie’s, London, on 11 March 1949 (Lot 125); from which sale purchased by Richard Walker on behalf of the Ministry of Works

GAC number

729