(Vienna 1733–1808 Rome)
Portrait of two Gentlemen before the Arch of Constantine in Rome,
signed and dated lower left: Ant. Maron fe. Rom 1767,
oil on canvas, 137 x 100.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Andrea Busiri Vici, Rome;
and thence by descent to the present owner

Exhibited:
Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, il Settecento a Roma, 19th March- 31st May 1959 (as Anton von Maron);
Rome, Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi, Artisti austriaci a Roma dal barocco alla secessione, March-April 1972 (as Anton von Maron)

Literature
E. Lavagnino (ed.), Il Settecento a Roma, exibition catalogue 1959, p. 148. no. 373, fig. 72 (as Anton von Maron);
B. Skinner, Settecento a Roma Exhibtion, in: The Burlington Magazine, 101/1959, p. 291-295;
M. Weingartner, Porträts aus Mengs Schule, in: Römische Historische Mitteilungen, V, 1961-1962, pp. 236-237 (as Anton von Maron);
A. Busiri Vici, Ritratti di Nathaniel Dance tra Ruderi e Salotti, in: Capitolium, 1965, p. 384-391;
S. Roettgen, “Antonius de Maron faciebat Romae” Intorno all’Opera di Anton von Maron a Roma, in Artisti austriaci a Roma dal Barocco alla Secessione, exhibition catalogue, Rome 1972, p. 165, no. 228 (as Anton von Maron);
S. Rudolph, La pittura del ´700 a Roma, Milan 1983, fig. 448;
A. Busiri Vici, Thomas Jenkins fra l’Arte e l’Antiquariato, in: Rivista l’Urbe, 5-6, September-December 1985, p. 158, ill. no. 1 (as Anton von Maron);
A. Ryszkiewicz, Un souvenir polonais du Grand Tour, in: Bulletin du Musée National de Vasovie, XXXI, no. 4, 1990, p. 92, fig.4 (as Anton von Maron);
G. Sestieri, Repertorio della Pittura Romana della Fine del Seicento e del Settecento, vol 1, Turin 1994, p. 121;
C. v. Schultzendorff, Aufstieg und Niedergang des Dilittanten: Zur Darstellung und Bewertung der “dilettanti” in der englischen Malerei und Graphik 1720-1830, Bonn 1999, p. 89;
F. Petrucci (ed.), I Volti del Potere ritratti di uomini illustri a Roma dall’Impero Romano al Neoclassicismo, Roma 2004, p. 13-24, fig. 46;
A. Lo Bianco, A Negro (ed.), Il Settecento a Roma, exhibition catalogue, Cinisello Balsamo - Milan 2005, p. 239, no. 135, fig. 135;
I. Schmittmann, Anton von Maron (1731–1808), Leben und Werk, Munich 2013, p. 257-258, ill. no. 68, tf. 11 (as Anton von Maron)

The present signed and dated painting by Anton von Maron was exhibited for the first time in Rome in 1959 (see: Il Settecento a Roma, exhibition catalogue, Rome 1959).

Cited in all of the literature on von Maron, this painting was produced in Rome in 1767, by which date the painter was already a member of the Accademia di San Luca. It represents two individuals in front of the Arch of Constantine and it belongs in the category of ‘souvenir’ portraits that were greatly in vogue during the 18th century among the wealthy and discerning participants of the so-called Grand Tour. This work immediately found such success that only a year later, in 1768, the antiquarian James Bryce requested a licence to export it from Italy, listing: ‘…due ritratti pure originali di Monsieur Maron…’ [‘…two portraits, also originals, by Monsieur Maron…’] (see: A. Ryszkiewicz, ‘Un souvenir polonais du Grand Tour’, in Bulletin du Musée National de Vasovie, XXXI, no. 4, 1990, p. 92).

It was mostly the British who undertook the Grand Tour and consequently they established the prerequisites of this educational journey, formulating the objectives of this cursus honorum, fixing the itinerary and instituting the indispensable destinations. Each traveller had differing professional interests: artists, writers, philosophers and scientists, consequently each had somewhat different objectives. However, there was a common interest that induced everyone to visit Rome with its churches, ruins and antiques shops. There was also a fascination with the city’s incomparable archaeological sites, where anyone with a little money could open an excavation.

It has not yet been possible to identify the two individuals represented in the present painting, however, it is probably that the comfortably seated figure represents a young English Lord, and the man standing beside him, his guide, or tutor. The nobleman is sumptuously dressed, the pilgrim’s staff rests on his left arm, and beside him are his sword and his dog: the unmissable attributes of British culture and nobility. Next to him, the standing cicerone is intent on pointing something out before them. Beyond, the Arch of Constantine completes and contextualises the whole composition.

The scholar Caterina Manca di Villa Hermosa believes, on the basis of comparisons with his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London (inv. 213), that the Bear-leader may be identified as the Irish painter James Barry, who was active in Rome from 1766 to 1771 (see Il Settecento a Roma, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2005, p. 239, cat. 135). Anton von Maron, was one of the first artists to pose his sitters en plein air before the monuments and together with Nathaniel Dance and Pompeo Battoni, were the most sought after ‘souvenir’ portraitists of the visiting aristocracy. Other fine examples in this genre include Batoni’s portrait of Sampson Gideon and his tutor Basti, painted in the same year as the present painting (see: A. Ryszkiewicz, op. cit., p. 90, fig. 3), or that by Dance of the Hope brothers with their tutor William Rouet (see: A. Bustri Vici, ‘Ritratti di Nathaniel Dance tra Ruderi e Salotti’, in Capitolium, 1965, p. 384-391, ill. P. 389).

Following his formative training at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, von Maron established himself in Rome in 1755 and began working in the studio of Mengs, becoming both his pupil, and in 1765, his brother-in-law when he married the master’s sister. When Mengs’ departured for Madrid in 1761, von Maron’s independent career flourished and he became the favoured portraitist of scholars undertaking the Grand Tour. He was in competition with Batoni and adopted similar style and settings for his portraits. In 1766, von Maron was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca, where he became the director. Duke Leopold III, Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau and Sir William Hamilton were amongst his important patrons.