LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD: JAMES RUSSEL IN ROME, 1740-63 by JASON M. KELLY INTRODUCTION JAMES RUSSEL was an English artist and antiquary who lived in Rome between 1740 and 1763. At one time he was among the foremost ciceroni in Italy. His patrons included Richard Mead and Edward Holdsworth. Andrew Lumisden, the Secretary to the Young Pretender, wrote that Russel was his 'ingenious friend' .1 Despite his centrality to the British Grand Tour community of the mid-eighteenth century, scholars have virtually ignored him. Instead, they favour his fellow artists, such as Robert Adam and William Chambers, and other antiquaries, such as Thomas Jenkins, James Byres and Gavin Hamilton.2 Nevertheless, Russel's career gives insight into the British community in Italy at the dawn of the golden age of the Grand Tour. His struggles as an artist reveal the conditions in which the young tyros laboured. His rise to prominence broadens what we know about both the British and Italian artistic communities in eighteenth-century Rome. And his network of patrons reveals some of the familial and political connections that were neces­ sary for social success in eighteenth-century Britain. In fact, the experience of James Russel reveals the importance of seeing Grand Tourist and expatriate communities as extensions of domestic social networks. Like eighteenth-century sailors who went to sea, these travellers lived in a world apart that was nevertheless intimately connected to life at home.3 While many accounts of the Grand Tour mention Russel in passing, only Frank Salmon and Sir Brinsley Ford have examined his work in any detail.4 Part of this is due to the fact that his artistic output was relatively small. Nevertheless, the records of Russel's career as an artist and antiquary are more extensive than most of his contemporaries, and 134 letters from his correspondence are extant. FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD To understand the social networks in which James Russel operated while in Italy, it is necessary to trace his family's religious and political allegiances. Russel was born in 1720 to Richard (1685-1756) and Juliana, nee Frankwell (bap. 1686-after 1772). The Russel family had roots in Sussex and ties to Oxford. James's great-grandfather Thomas (c. 1608-61?), his grandfather Richard (1644-1700), and his father were graduates of Magdalen College, Oxford.5 As High Churchmen, both James's great-grandfather and father found themselves in conflict with the government. Thomas Russel was the son of Richard Russel of Hellingly, Sussex. After graduating with his MA, he entered the clergy as rector at St John's sub Castro in Lewes, Sussex, in 1632.6 Russel was an Arminian, and, for Puritan reformers, he represented a threat to Calvinist theology. He was also a supporter of Archbishop William Laud's reforms of the Church of England's liturgy.7 In the Civil War, he supported Charles I. As such, he refused aid to the Parliamentary Army in 1642. The House of Commons called for him as a 'Delinquent' 'for denying to contribute or lend any thing for this Service, in this Time of imminent Danger' in October 1642.8 Fortunately for Thomas, the Commons released him in November 1642.9 However, he was removed from St John's sub Castro to Berwick in l 64 7. 10 61 ............ ;~ . . if? +· ......................... _. ________ _ JASON M. KELLY Thomas Russel passed on his High Church and pro-Stuart sympathies to his son Richard, born in 1644. Like his father, he attended Magdalen College, earning a BA in 1663 and an MA in 1666.11 After appointments as a deacon at Oxford (1666) and priest at Chichester (1667), he was made a vicar, first of Hollington (1667-78) then of Hellingly (1679-82). 12 His final appointment was at. Dallington, where he served as vicar between 1682 and his death in 1700.13 He married at least twice, having a son, John, with his first wife. With Susannah Hawes, whom he married in 1682, he had three sons, Richard, Thomas and Nathaniel. 14 He built up landholdings in Sussex and Oxford, bequeathing most of them to his first son, John. 15 Richard's first son with Susannah, Richard, matriculated at University College, Oxford, on 9 July 1698.16 Upon his father's death, he inherited the buildings and lands in Dallington. 17 After receiving his BA in l 702 and MA in l 70 5, he entered the clerical service, first as deacon at Chichester (1705), then as curate at Ripe (1705-10), and finally as vicar at Selmeston (1710-16) and Alfriston (1710-16). 18 On 9 September 1712, he married Juliana Frankwell of Eastbourne.19 Juliana's dowry was £500 and included the advowsons of South Heighten and Tarring Neville and property in the Manor of Southease.20 Despite this comfortable situation, the family would soon find itself in precarious financial circumstances. As a supporter of the Stuart line and defender of High Church policies, Richard formed alliances with others of similar principles. In print, Russel was an ardent defender of Henry Sacheverell, a cleric who was prosecuted in 1710 for his critique ofWhig latitudinarianism. To him, Sacheverell was a martyr who 'scorn'd the Danger' of critiquing the government's toleration of dissenters.21 Then, in the wake of George l's succession to the throne in late 1714, Anglican clergy were required to take the Oath of Abjuration. It necessitated that they denounce the claims of the Stuart line in favour of the Protestant Hanoverian succession. Most clergy took the oath, but Richard Russel stood alone among the Sussex clergy in his refusal.22 Known as the honjurors, the men found the oath unjustifiable, and Russel recognized 'the sad Consequences of refusing the Oaths, namely, the Loss of Temporal Conveniences, and the Ruin of a Man's Self and Family' .23 In his farewell address to his parishioners, he reminded them of the Gospel of Luke: 'If any Man come to me, and hate not his Father, and Mother, and Wife, and Children and Brethren, and Sisters, yea and his Life also, he cannot be my Disciple'.24 According to Russel, 'Whoever is not ready to part with all these Things, rather than wilfully and deliberately to act against his Conscience, cannot have Christ for his Master and Saviour'. 25 The immediate effect of this was the loss of his livings, and he complained bitterly that his successor refused him even the tithes due to him in arrears. 26 Thus, the young Russel family found itself out-of-house and without a reliable income. Russel turned to farming and making translations to support the family. 27 He edited a four-volume edition of the Jansenist Pasquier Quesnel's New Testament with Moral Refiections.28 From 1716 to 1719, the subscriptions for the Quesnel edition and the charity of anonymous benefactors aided the Russels. 29 Richard maintained his activism within Jacobite and nonjuring circles, from which much of his support came. 3° For example, Thomas Hearne, with whom Russel met on occasion, had a high opinion of the nonjuror: 'He is an ingenious, worthy man ... Non-Jurors are the Men that have stuck to Principles, and are the best Friends of Church & Monarchy'. 31 However, friendly support was not enough for his growing family. He and Juliana had six children, Richard (1714-'71), James (1720-63), William (d. 1775), Elizabeth, Juliana (Kitty) and Clementina. By 1732, the Russel 62 onned Henry 'ohim, tion of clergy ti.ms of th, but LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD . t d quarters in Smith's Square near the Horse-Ferry in Westminster.32 There, he &rnilY ren e . . 33 . · ered a boarding house for the children of nonJurors. ··· ... · adJ:niIUSt en 17 3 1 and r 73 5, Richard was working in London as primary partner, editor and writer . Betwe } l 34 R l' . . al . d . . . ·· ··· · ·.. r the periodical, The Grub Street ourna . usse s satmc epigrams an msmuatlons were ~cted against numerous enemies, and to some extent he supported the interests of the circle of Alexander Pope. In one episode, he even accused Eustace Budgell, a former associate of Joseph Addison, of murder:35 ~e Grub S~reet]ournal ~o':ed ~ussel ~o c,ontin~e ~s sup~o1: of Tory and High Church principles m a public m~~ner. S1~ng. ~s entnes Maevms , the v1tnole o~ Rus~el against his loss of livings was apparent. Russel s pos1t10ns led the London Journal to descnbe him and his friends as follows: ... they strut, look big, vow revenge, and immediately turn Pamphleteers and Journalists against the government. Nonjuring Jacobite Priests, shabby, wandring, v~cio.us, ignorant Parsons. ~ithout a Cure, Night-House Wits, and beggarly Poetasters, are our great scnbbling Statesmen, and railing Advocates for publick National Faith, and public Roman virtue.37 But, despite his enemies' accusation to the contrary, his Jacobitism was left for his private correspondence. Education in the Russel family must have been a demanding one. In addition to being an editor and writer, Richard Russel was also a scholar with an affinity for Latin. By 1730, he was gathering subscriptions for a revised edition of Robert Estienne's Thesaurus linguae latinae.38 And in 1732 he published a translation of the Virgilian humanist Marco Girolamo Vida's works, which Russel dedicated to Alexander Pope.39 At the same time, he finished much of his SS. Patrum Apostolicorum Bamabae, Hermae, Clementis, Ignatii, Polycarpi, operagenuina, which was not published until 1746.40 Richard's children, especially the boys, Richard, James and William, were expected to perform at a high academic level, which to James's dismay included proficiency in Latin.41 In 1727/28, his thirteen-year-old son, Richard, was in third form in Westminster School, and by August 1733 he had completed sixth form. 42 James's letters reveal that both he and William also attended Westminster, but they are not in the surviving admissions lists.43 The boys received the standard education of the eighteenth-century elite at Westminster. 44 The air in which the school was steeped during the 1720s was increasingly Jacobite, and the Russel family found others of similar political outlook. Under the Tory headmaster, Robert Freind, who led the school from 17rr to 1733, the curriculum focused on elegant Latin and literature.45 A Westminster education did not fully satisfy their father, however. Each of his children - including his daughters, it seems - participated in Latin, Greek and French drills at home. Likewise, their knowledge of religion went well beyond common devotional literature. ·Assuming that his sons could not take the oaths and enter the clergy, Richard prepared them for ?ractical careers. He set up his first son in the medical profession by apprenticing him to a physician in London, likely from the circle of John Freind and Richard Mead. After serving under the man­ m.idwife Martin Gregoire in Paris, the younger Richard took an MD on 7 June 1738 at Rheims. 46 He was licensed by the Royal College of Physicians in l 7 42 and entered the profession. 47 Like his t:r, he could not avoid pamphlet wars with his competitors. 48 William trained to enter the pub- g ~ade, and he was well prepared by both his alma mater and his father. After his mandatory :re?tlceship, William began a ·career in printing in 1742, and it was he who published his er 5 and brothers' manuscripts. 49 Relatively unsuccessful, he ended up an itinerant bookseller, supported by CharlesJennens, a family friend and fellow norijuringJacobite. 50 -------,;;~ JASON M. KELLY James Russel prepared to enter the much more precarious trade of the artist. He and his sister Clementina both had skill, and they sometimes discussed the status of women in the artistic profes­ sion. 51 Like many other boys, he may have taken drawing classes while at Westminster. After completing sixth form, he would have had at least two to three years to study in England before moving to Italy. With whom Russel worked while in London is unclear, but it is certain that he had some artistic training before he left for Rome in 1740. At least two - and probably four - finished landscapes from this period survive.52 Two are watercolours of Castle Campbell, Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, taken on a tour in the late 1730s (Fig. l). All four are the same size and style, and it is likely that they were presentation copies for a patron. Russel's watercolours are similar in composition and techmque to his artistic contemporaries, including William Taverner, Jonathan Skelton and George Lambert. 53 Since his name does not appear on the academy lists compiled by Ilaria Bignamini, his teacher is unknown. 54 The Russel family's links to the circle of Richard Mead are suggestive, however. The Russels knew Peter Scheerµakers and Jonathan Richardson, both associates of Mead. 55 Richardson even provided James with a letter of introduction to take with him to Rome in 1739· The beginning ofJames's career mirrored that of Allan Ramsay who, like Russel, travelled to Rome through Florence with letters of introduction from Mead, meeting Antonio Cocchi along the way. 56 Each studied with Imperiali and at the French Academy. When Ramsay returned to London in 1738, he operated within Mead's social network. It is conceivable that Russel knew Ramsay before leaving for Italy. Fig. I <;:astle Campbell, c. 1730s. Watercolour over graphite. ro.8 x 16.9 cin, verso: inscribed 'Castle Campbell from the South Sept 5th' and 'J. Russel delt'. British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings.(© The Trustees of the British Museum) . •' 64 .. is siste profes,.;' :. After c before that he 1th Sept I LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD ~~;L~F~,il)UCATION IN ROME AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY ···• 't. any young artists travelling from England to Rome, James Russel visited France. Arriving 'fil'; ~ in late 1739, he met William Burrell Massingberd and a 'Mr. M', possibly Wrightson tD ~ 51 William's younger brother Francis was a linen-draper in London and was a patron and M: c~rrespondent of James. The Massingberds were fellow Jaco bites. 58 After a brief stay in Paris ~November 1739, he travelled with an unnamed companion through Fontainebleau, Chalan, ~ 0 Avignon and Marseilles.59 On the road to Avignon, the two stopped in Aix-en-Provence ~~r~ they met Dr Antonio Cocchi, long a friend of British and Irish travellers. 60 A ship from ~arseilles to Leghorn had them in Italy on 9 January, and by 24 January they arrived by coach in 61 R~;hard Russel's fellow nonjuror, Thomas Wagstaffe, provided lodgings in the Strada Felice for James and his friend. 62 Wagstaffe was the Anglican chaplain to the exiled Stuarts, and his continued friendship with James gave the artist access to collections and a wide circle of patrons in Rome. Russel would have found that, despite the Stuarts' Catholicism, the court at the Palazzo Muti permitted regular Anglican services. It was also quite active, although smaller than its earlier incar­ nation at the Chateau de St Germain-en-Laye. Jacobites from abroad came and went, providing Russel with links to home and access to potential patrons. 63 With a place to stay, James needed a master, and, with a letter of introduction from Richard Mead, he sought out Camillo Paderni. 64 However, finding that he and Paderni were the same age, he instead entered the academy of Paderni's master, Francesco Imperiali.65 Imperiali was a favourite of Grand Tourists and a teacher to a number of British and Irish artists. With a letter of introduc­ tion from Jonathan Richardson, he was able to make other useful connections.66 Most impor­ tantly, these included Jean-Francois de Troy, the director ofl'Academie de France a Rome who 'promised to give me all the assistance in his power'. 67 While Russel was rare among artists for his knowledge of Latin letters, he was nevertheless ill prepared for his studies. His continental counterparts were more skilled in their craft, and Russel repeatedly complained that he was behind in his education. 68 A setback to his training occurred in November 1740 when Imperiali died.69 Russel took a new master, but he never named him in his letters. The only clue to his teacher's identity is that in 1742-43 this man was a competitor with Pompeo Batoni for the commission to paint Christ Delivering the Keys to Peter for the ceiling of the Caffaeus in the Quirinal Palace gardens.70 While this narrows the probable contenders - Francesco Mancini, Stefano Pozzi and Sebastiano Conca are likely candidates - his master remains unknown. Russel's experiences as a student extend our knowledge of the lives of British and Irish artists in Rome during the l74os.71 Like others, he had come to Rome equipped with some knowledge of art theory.72 And he may have already apprenticed in a studio in London. While his landscape training was a start, he was thrust into a world in which ability in figure drawing was essential. To be successful, his master advised that he follow Michelangelo's dictum: 'Young Man, beware of woman: for PAINTING is a jealous Mistress; she'll not allow any gazing upon other Beauties, byexcept i~ or~er to set herself off to greater advantage' .73 Russel would have begun his training _copying his master's drawings and eventually his paintings.74 When not serving as his teacher's :Stant,_ he spent days sketching Old Masters and ancient sculpture in Roman galleries. He lived bis e:erungs in the studio.75 By July 1743, his skills were beginning to advance. Giving advice to sister about figure drawing, he noted that drawing life-sized busts in crayons was an essential JASON M. KELLY step in developing one's skills.76 To what extent he moved beyond models to life drawing is unclear, but his connection to the Academie de France a Rome gave him access to an important life drawing school for British artists.77 It is also possible that he sketched from live models at Sebastiano Conca's evening 'accademia del nudo' at the Palazzo Famesi.7s In 1747, for instance, Russel claimed that he worked in the Borghese galleries all day, had a brief dinner, then studied in an academy until three in the morning. 79 When Russel arrived in Rome, there were few British or Irish artists in residence. In the early 1740s, they included John Parker (resident 1740-62), Edward Penny (resident 1740-42), Nicholas Revett (resident 1742-51), all three students of Marco Benefial; Gabriel Mathias (resident 1744- 48), a student of Pompeo Batoni; Richard Dalton (resident 1740-43), a student of Agostino Masucci; a Mr Button (resident c. 1735-41), a student of Sebastiano Conca; and three others for whom records of their masters have not been found- Henry Pickering (resident ?-1745), James Stuart (resident c. 1744-45, 1748-51), and Robert Taylor (resident 1742).so As late as 1747 when more artists began to fl.ow into the city, Russel noted that four new arrivals put their numbers at only a dozen. sl Their small community lived in the vicinity of the Piazza di Spagna, which is where the Grand Tourists also congregated. Generally shunned by their Italian comrades, the British artists were friends by necessity and rivals by circumstance. The influence of their masters contributed to ten­ sions among the artists, especially as some members of the Accademia di S. Luca attempted to undermine artisan guilds and non-affiliated masters.s2 While Imperiali and Benefial had strained relationships with the Accademia di S. Luca at the best of times, both Masucci (1737-38) and Conca (1729-32, 1739-42) were principi of the academy. Professional differences between their masters tainted the atmosphere, but competition for patrons rriade things worse. For example, Batoni's rise to prominence began to challenge the status of Conca. And Grand Tourists tended to commission French and Italian artists, leaving the British and Irish artists to struggle for patrons' attention. To his dismay, Russel found that he could do little to avoid confrontations with his comrades.s3 His gentlemanly education made him popular among the Grand Tour elite, but a target for the 'envy, malice, and detraction' of his rivals.s4 Joseph Spence was particularly fond of Russel: 'he is a very pretty sort of man, & I like him mightily. He is full genteel enough for an Englishman ... He is here in the proper Center for Gentlemen of his Profession; & I dare say will make very good use of so proper a situation'. ss But, even as Spence recommended him to friends, Russel's fellow artists undermined his reputation in letters abroad.s6 Russel's public indictment of their conduct in the first volume of his Letters did not help matters.s7 And, despite his claims to the contrary, Russel undermined his fell ow artists even as they attempted to undermine him. His particular targets were James Stuart, Nicholas Revett and John Parker. Both Revett and Parker were students ofBenefial, and all three were probably friends with each other.ss When Stuart and Revett began organizing an archaeological expedition to Athens in 1748, Russel wrote that Richard Dalton's drawings made their own trip superfluous and that their literacy in Greek and Latin was wonting.s9 Nevertheless, the immigrant community eventually recognized the importance of mutual assistance. After all, their greatest competition came from foreign artists, not from each other. In 1749, Russel and fifteen others formed an academy for British and Irish artists in Rome.90 The project was one of the most important endeavours with which Russel was involved while in Italy, fitting into a larger debate over national identity and its relation to the arts. While art academies had existed in England for some time, there was a general urge to create a national academy in the 66 Grand ; were o ten­ ted to rained l) and L their tmple, ied to Ltrons' tdes.83 :>r the an ... ·good '.ellow uct in tussel ; were nefial, Ji zing made 1eless, er all, LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD , os 91 This was partially due to Jean-Bernard le Blanc's Lettres which took a condescending ··~ 17~~ds the arts in Britain.92 Le Blanc wrote that 'Painting, sculpture and the other arts that rone to · h k h · · h · · £'. ' 93 A ki b h i .·.· · d on drawing, are as yet eit er un nown ere, or m t eir m1ancy at most . ttac ng ot 4eJ'; h taste and British artists, he claimed that this deficiency was due to the lack of an academy. ~ B:anc's attacks occurred during the War of Austrian Succession and thus at a high point of t,e 'otic fervour. 94 British successes against France and Spain and the Jacobite invasion of 1745 J'3~ed a number of pro-British responses to Le Blanc. For example, a note in the Gentleman's ~o azine of 1749 argued for the native ability of English artists: 'That the English excel in genius, ~have a natural taste superior to that of foreigners, I think, is very evident, from the great ~ rovements which they have made in the polite arts, unassisted by the important auxiliaries nnp d b bli d · ' 95 hich are furnished abroa y pu c aca ennes . w . While there was a patriotic element to the push for an academy, there was a practical one as well. British and Irish artists were suffering financially from the elites' preference for Old Masters and continental works. So, in 1748-49, a group of artists led by John Gwynn, Francis Hayman and George Vertue encouraged both the Society of Dilettanti and Frederick, the Prince of Wales, to sponsor a national academy. The Dilettanti and the Prince put plans into motion.96 When James Russel and the other artists in Rome heard of the development, they reacted excitedly.97 It may have been momentum in London that encouraged them to found their own academy, something that could grow into a British analogue to the Academie de France a Rome. Their British academy in Rome was originally 'maintain' d by the contribution of the painters themselves'. 98 But when the group argued over the use of the academy's funds in 1752 it nearly split apart. To save it, patrons in the circle of James Caulfeild, the Earl of Charlemont, raised a subscription to support the artists. 99 As was the case in the London academy schemes of the same period, there were arguments among the artists over both governance and whether they should accept aristocratic patronage - so much, in fact, that the 'Noblemen and Gentlemen hearing of these dissentions, wou'd not contribute afterwards, unless they saw the names of those that were willing to accept of their generosity' .10° Clearly, Charlemont and his circle wanted to exert some authority over the group, and Russel realized that refusing their offer meant losing their patronage. He thus encouraged his fellow artists to sign their names. Unbeknownst to them, however, one of their own was angling to seize control of the new academy. In the British papers, John Parker, a rival of Russel, announced himself as the new director. 101 In fact, Parker was never the official director, and Russel reported that, in response to Parker's audacity, bylaws were written so that 'no body can pretend to be Director, more than another; and 'tis to be hop'd will now be carried on with great harmony'. 102 In the end, however, the artists' modus operandi - competition and pettiness - continued to pull at the academy's seams. In 1755, Thomas Patch beat a fellow member, Thomas Warner, which prompted Charlemont to 'dismiss the Academy till further orders'. 103 The possibility of the acad­ emy being reconstituted under Charlemont's patronage dissipated in the following years. Many of :: academy's leaders headed back to Britain and Ireland. The Seven Years War distracted patrons fo m academy schemes. Furthermore, Charlemont's falling out with Piranesi over sponsorship . r Le Antichita Romane in 1756 led to more infighting among artists and antiquarians. 104 In fact, whe? Piranesi effaced Charlemont's name from the dedicatory plates in his polemical Lettere di giustijicazione scritte a Milord Charlemont ea di lui agenti di Roma (1757), Russel and Thomas Jenkins Wrote their names into at least one copy of the defaced title plate. 105 While Parker supported his JASON M. KELLY patron Charlemont, Russel, J enk.ins and Robert Mylne backed Piranesi. They attacked Charlemont's proxies in Rome, including Parker and Abbe Peter Grant. Their campaign was so successful that in the following year Thomas Bruce-Brudenell, Baron Bruce, refused to see either Parker or Grant.106 In the decades that followed, the reputation of British and Irish artists improved, but instead of forming their own academy, many joined the Italian academies, an accomplishment that was relatively easy to attain.107 JACOBITE ARTIST AND CICERONE Russel's life as an immigrant, apprentice artist in Italy was initially a difficult one, especially with the limited financial support of his family. On occasion, he was forced to sell his drawings at a price below their value.108 And, as early as 1743, he was considering becoming a writer ifhe failed as an artist. 109 However, utilizing his family's social and political connections, Russel found an alternative means to support himself- as an antiquary and cicerone. In the 1740s, most of Russel's patrons were ardent supporters of the Jacobite cause, and it is necessary to understand his early successes in Rome in this context. Russel's first patrons included friends from Westminster School - Sir John Rawdon, later Earl of Moira; George Henry Lee, Viscount Quarendon, later 3rd Earl of Lichfield; Sir Roger N ewdigate and Samuel Dashwood. 110 While these men were school chums, all but Moira were also men with High Church Tory and Jacobite sympathies. Nathaniel Castleton, another Westminster student, took a special interest in the artist, inviting Russel to travel with him; Henry Fiennes Clinton, 9th Earl of Lincoln, later Duke of Newcastle; and Joseph Spence to Naples in March l74r. 111 It is possible that Russel served as their artist. Russel made drawings ofVesuvius on the trip, and he dedicated a view of Vesuvius to Castleton in the first volume of his Letters.112 Visiting palaces, churches and the antiquities of Herculaneum, Russel gathered knowledge about important sites, which he would later use to his benefit. More important than Russel's Westminster connections was his father's Jacobite circle. Thomas Wagstaffe, the Pretender's Anglican chaplain, had ongoing discussions with Russel about the collections in Rome. 113 In September 1741, Edward Holdsworth, a Jacobite nonjuror and friend of Revd Richard Russel, and George Pitt, later Baron Rivers, also a suspected Jacobite, invited James to Tivoli with them.114 He relied upon their favours 'to see the palaces, &c. for as those grand doors flie open only to the rich, I am glad to follow them as their shadow'. 115 With them, he studied Rome's antiquities, describing recently excavated sculptures from Hadrian's villa in Tivoli in 1742.116 The Jacobites with whom the Russel family circulated gave James a wide circle of patrons. William Burrell Massingberd first introduced Joseph Spence to Russel in l 7 40.117 Pitt and Hold­ sworth introduced James to Christopher Fortescue in 1742, and the two men travelled through Naples in 1742.118 Since he had travelled the route previously, it seems that he was acting as a guide to the Irish traveller. Likewise, Holdsworth introduced Russel to William Drake and Thomas Townson, who became important patrons.119 In November 1744, Drake commissioned Russel's only known conversation piece, which took the artist over three years to complete120 (Fig. 2). Positioned in a library amongst drawing implements, antiquities and a view of St Peter's, the paint­ ing appears innocuous until it is placed in its proper context. The sitters were at the core of the Jacobite circle in Italy. From left to right, it includes Russel, Townson, Drake, James Dawkins and Holdsworth. 121 Russel wears a tartan coat to show his sympathy for the Stuart cause. 68 Ii/as so either ·oved, iment r with . price las an native d it is luded r Lee, od.110 y and ~est in , later erved mvms :ies of to his iomas it the friend ivited grand n, he rivoli trans. -Iold­ :ough guide iomas Jssel' s g. 2). nint­ )f the LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Fig. 2 Conversation Piece, c. r744-47. Oil on canvas. (Tyrwitt-Drake Collection) Through these men, Russel met John Bouverie and Richard Phelps, both Jacobites, who became his patrons. Horace Mann fretted about the group, especially since it was apparent in late 1744 that the Stuart court in Rome was orchestrating something. Whether the men were acting as Jacobite agents is unclear, but the facts are suggestive. Less than two weeks before the Young Pretender's call to arms of 16 May 1745, they left Rome, travelling through Bologna to Venice. 122 Russel explained that he embarked on short notice for reasons of'greatest interest and well-fare'. 123 He stated that he was motivated by something more than curiosity and patronage, but he did not explain further. The men did not stay in Venice long. InJune, Russel, Bouverie and Phelps headed to Florence while Holdsworth, Drake, Townson and Dawkins went to Vienna on their return to England. In Florence, they came under the scrutiny of Horace Mann, who complained of Russel's patrons. 124 There is no extant correspondence from Russel between August 1745 and October 1746, but there are references to his travelling companions, who by December 1745 included Rowland Holt and John Monro. 125 The group moved between Florence and Rome, where they openly consorted with James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender. 126 It was during 1745 and 1746 that the Russel family must have formulated the idea to tumJames's corre~pondence into a book. There is no indication of any intent to publish prior to October t746· 27 And, in fact, the first volume was probably a money-making scheme for William's newly JASON M. KELLY opened print shop. It differs significantly from the second volume, telling the story of a young man developing as an artist and an intellectual. Its epistolary form and conversational tone were popular with contemporary readers. The second volume, however, was didactic and meant to both guide and instruct Grand Tourists. In fact, the family even considered creating a pocket companion volume for travellers. 128 While nothing came of the plan, Russel seems to have completed the work for it. As late as June 1769, James Dodsley was looking for subscribers to 'Anecdotes and Observations on the Antiquities and Curiosities of Rome and its Environs. By the late Mr. James Russel'. 129 Despite their differences, the two volumes were tied together by the Russels' Jacobitism. Published in the wake of the '45, Letters from a Young Painter Abroad to His Friends in England spoke to the political sensibilities of.its author and his family. In one letter, James describes Filippo Barigioni's and Pietro Bracci's monument to Queen Maria Clementina Sobieska, the beloved queen of the Old Pretender. He even dedicated two plates to the memorial at St Peter's; his intent to highlight the Stuart cause was. clear. Linking his political sympathies to his social network, Russel dedicated all but three of the illustrations to well-known Stuart supporters: John Bouverie, Nathaniel Castleton, James Dawkins, William Drake, Rowland Holt, Hildebrand Jacob, Charles Jennens, John Monro, George Pitt ·and Anthony Langley Swymmer. Clearly, James Russel did not have the same fears as Jonathan Skelton, who worried about being labelled ajacobite. 130 * * * 1748 marked a turning point in British interest in the Grand Tour, antiquities and art. With the defeat of the Jacobites and successes in the War of Austrian Succession, the wealthy turned their attention to patronage and consumption. The next decades would mark an all-time high in travel and collecting, and Italy was at the heart of it. 131 Revd Richard Russel and William Russel, always short of funds, thought to capitalize on the moment, asking James to produce a sequel quickly. They knew that elite readers were particularly interested in new discoveries in Rome, Tivoli and Herculaneum. By this point, however, the young Russel was flush with work - both from artistic commissions and from acting as a cicerone. As Claude Joseph Vernet referred to him, Russel was both a 'peintre et antiquaire' .132 Yet, while on occasion James mused about becoming a history painter, he had little time to practice his craft. 133 His Jacobite friends had spent years undermining the reputation of the resident English antiquarian and supposed Hanoverian spy, Mark Parker. 134 In 1749, after a dinner party thrown by Jack St Leger, Parker spoke imprudently - perhaps against the Stuarts or against Catholicism. The Inquisition banished Parker, and Russel was positioned to reap the rewards. Nevertheless, he had competition. His nemesis, John Parker, sought to undermine him at every turn. In the summer of 1750, when Russel was laid up for six weeks after being scalded with hot water, Parker used the opportunity to steal his patrons.135 He sent word to Florence and Turin that Russel was a person of dangerous principles.136 Despite this, Russel's patrons in l 7 5 r included William Pulteney, Viscount Pulteney and Henry Seymour.137 And, by 1752, he was the cicerone to Thomas Bruce-Brudenell, Baron Bruce, Sir Thomas Kennedy, Lascelles Iremonger, Benjamin Lethieullier and Thomas Scrope.138 When Russel's patrons commissioned art from him, they primarily wanted copies of busts, reliefs and Old Masters. For example, Phelps, Holt and Drake each commissioned series of folio drawings, 70 ·bitism. i spoke Filippo 1eloved ; intent :twork, uverie, :hades did not ·ith the d their l travel always uickly. oli and i..issions peintre he had utation after a Stuarts ~ap the him at :d with l Turin tcluded ;:. LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD bich Russel completed between 1746 and 1750.139 The Holt drawings are still extant and reveal fJi by the late l74os,James was a competent draughtsman (Figs 3-13). While they lack the depth :;·subtlety of Pompeo Batoni's drawings for Richard Topham (Eton College Library), they 01 are favourably to other 'paper museums', such as that of Charles Townley (British Museum). ; ~orks are clearly. the product of_ sustained academi~ training. Peter Scheemakers even suggested that his dr~wmgs for Phelps nught be a worthy ~enes for engraving. 140 Contemporary Bntons must have seen Russel as a skilled craftsman, because William Drake romissioned several Old Master copies from him. Most notably, this included a large Domenichi- co . 141 . no at the Borghese, probably Diana and Her Nymphs.. Russel claimed that no artist had ever bad pemussion to copy the Domenichino, and that it had taken the intervention of the Stuarts to get access. 142 He also copied a Crucifixion from the Borghese, which contemporaries attributed to 71 Fig. 3 Borghese Gladiator (Villa Borghese, now in Louvre), c. 1745-53. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) JASON M. KELLY Fig. 4 Meleager (Vatican), c. r745-53. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) Michelangelo. 143 The appeal of the copy resulted from an oft-repeated Grand Tour tale about its origins, first recorded in England by Fynes Moryson: 'that he [Michelangelo] being to paint a crucifix for the Pope, when he came to expresse the liuely actions of the passion; hired a Porter to be fastned vpon a Crosse, and at that very time stabbed him with a penknife, and while he was dying, made a rare peece of worke' .144 Despite, or perhaps because of, his popularity, Russel had trouble completing his commissions in a timely manner. Drake, Holt, John Quicke and a Mr Marsh complained on a number of occasions, and Francis Burrell Massingberd nearly broke off relations with the artist. 145 While Russel's letters reveal an artist negligent in his commissions, they nevertheless suggest a man savvy 72 :_..:- !:;: )Il 1h: ut a to ·as ns of le ry ~-.' [ ~ ~ t ~ LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD I l . l: Fig. 5 Laocoon (Vatican), c. r745-53. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) at pursuing patrons.Joseph Spence, a key member of the Society of Dilettanti, was a useful ally. In a letter from 1753 to William Burrell Massingberd, another patron of Russel, he wrote There are so many rivals in Painting, that if our friend Russel can get the English at Rome as sole Cicerone, it may possibly prove the more beneficial profession. I heartily wish him all success; & ought to do so, for he is allways [sic] obliging me[.] I wanted a plan of one of the ¥illas Gardens near Rome, by the Captain [Edward Rolle]; he mention'd it to Mr Russel, who drew it, & insisted it sd be a Pre~ent to me. For which, & other favors, I think myself oblig' d to recommend whatever friends of mine IT;:ay go to Rome to his care. 146 In fact, Spence's friends and acquaintances were consuming most of Russel's time. That spring, Russel was cicerone to a host of people including William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth; a Mr Fitzhugh; Kit Golding; William Lee; Frederick North, Lord North; Revd Edward Rolle; and John Walter. 147 As soon as these travellers left, more arrived. Between December 1754 and February 1755, Russel toured William Hodges Sneyd, a Mr Cochrane and a Mr Clarke in Rome and perhaps Naples as well. 148 From this point in his career to his death, it appears that Russel accomplished -· ·' JASON M. KELLY Fig. 6 Farnese Bull Group (Palazzo Farnese, now in Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli), c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) what Spence encouraged him to do. And sources are unanimous that he became primary cicerone to British and Irish travellers in Rome. But, if playing artist and cicerone were not enough, Russel also served as an agent, mediating between patrons and artists in Rome. As early as the 1740s, he sent Richard Mead Imperiali's Erminia Cawing Tancred's Name on a Tree Trunk (c. 1740) and a copy of the Aldobrandini Marriage. 149 In the wake of the '45, there was much trade in Jacobite art. In addition to making his own pieces, including a life-sized portrait of Henry Benedict Stuart (1749, untraced), Russel provided his clients with everything from portraits in oils to prints to commemorative medals. 150 He even imported pamphlets on the Jacobite martyrs for the Stuart sympathizers in Rome. 151 The scale of Russel's business expanded quickly. By 1749, he was working for John Quicke to procure prints, casts of sculptures and busts from a Signore Pesci, possibly Girolamo Pesci, and cameos from Christiano Dehn. 152 And, in 1751, he was preparing to send off statues to Mr Marsh. 153 His business supported his brother's trade in books as well. When Bouverie, Dawkins and Robert 74 Jazzo ogico JS. r. :rone ating riali's 149 ~e. eces, ~ents )rted (e to . and .h.1SJ )bert LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD ·Fig. 7 Silenus with Infant Bacchus (Villa Borghese, now in Louvre), c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) Wood prepared for their trip to the eastern Mediterranean, it was the Russels who were responsible for handling the last-minute book purchases.154 The patron for whom we have the most extensive correspondence is Ralph Howard, who visited Rome in early 1752. Russel supervised the completion of various commissions and handled customs and shipping. On Howard's behalf, Russel monitored the progress of George Chalmers's copies of Lelia Orsi's S. Cecilia e S. Valeriano (c. 1555, Galleria Borghese, Rome) and Guido Reni's Herodias, also known as Salome with the Head efjohn the Baptist (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di ~alazzo Corsini, Rome, 1630-35).155 Russel consulted with Howard on the quality of his commis­ nons, making sure that both Joshua Reynolds and Claude Joseph Vernet altered their works to the pa~n's and cicerone's taste. 156 As agent, Russel had an obligation to insure quality of craftsman­ dlip and safe packing and shipping in his patron's absence. In 1752 and 1753, Russel performed his 75 JASON M. KELLY Fig. 8 Antinous Osiris (Vatican), c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Inscribed 'IR'. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) Fig. 9 Capitoline Antinous, c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Inscribed 'IR'. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) duties to Howard's approval, overseeing comnuss1ons including: portraits of Howard (Speed Museum, KY) and his companion Mr Benson by Batoni;157 a landscape and four marine paintings by Vernet; 158 four paintings after Vernet by Thomas Patch; 159 a caricature by Reynolds; 160 and four landscapes, two 'Fryar's heads, a Venus and Satyr, and a Narcissus by Wilson. 161 In addition to the paintings were six gessos, a Carrara marble Dancing Faun, a Carrara marble Apollino and two marble tables (Charlecotte Hall) by Simon Vierpyl. 162 Documentation is sparse, but it is clear that Russel acted as an agent through the remainder of his life. In 1753, he handled Anthony Swymmer's commissions, which included Anton Raphael Mengs's first portraits of English sitters, as well as landscapes by Wilson.163 Export licences from June 1758 note Russel's shipment of twenty modern paintings, including copies of Old Masters; four 'mezzi Tavolini di marrno'; two modern heads of ancient marble; and three antique small urns and other objects. 164 While the export of antiquities and art required a licence, records reveal that Russel smuggled goods on at least one occasion. In 1760, the Roman government intercepted 'a great collection of antique medals and pictures' .165 The reports from Italy concerned a number of people. Nathaniel Dance wrote to his father, George Dance, that 'What you read of him [Russel] in the Papers is, in k and >n. (Speed 11asters; all urns tugg!ed :tion of .thaniel LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Fig. ro Dying Gladiator (Capitoline), c. r745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Inscribed 'IR'. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) some measure, true, but much exaggerated'. 166 Nevertheless, Russel was forced to petition the Pope, who turned the case over to the examination of the Camerlengo, Cardinal Girolamo Colonna di Sciarra. 167 It seems that the situation was smoothed over because Russel continued sending art and antiquities to Britain. In June 1762, the Camerlengo approved the export of a marble relief and bronze vases. The following March, Russel shipped four portraits by Batoni to Sir Richard Lyttleton as well as seven landscapes, probably by Wilson. 168 During these years, Russel developed into a collector himself. While a full account of his collections is impossible to reconstruct, the records suggest that in the 1750s, Russel was doing II 169 we · The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser of 6 February l 769 gives some indication of Russel's collection of Old Masters: To be SOLD by AUCTION, By Mr. CHRISTIE, At his Great Room, next Cumberland house, in Pall-Mall, by permission, in the above sale of Pictures, consigned from abroad, JHE four following real capital Pictures, the property of the late ingenious Mr. RUSSEL, Antiquarian, fc eceased, who was a Resident at Rome upwards of 20 years, and executed all the principal commissions 0~ the first nobility of this kingdom. They consist as follows, viz. Raphael's Mistress, a high finished, an an undoubted picture by himself; a most capital picture, Erminia appearing to the Shepherd, with a 77 JASON M. KELLY Fig. II Discobolus as Wounded Gladiator (Capitoline), c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Inscribed 'IR'. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) landscape by Titian; Mercury and Argus, by G. Poussin; a Portrait of a Lady by Gaenini. The above were purchased out ofSixtus Quintus's collection, and are in most excellent preservation. In a short time will be sold Mr. Russel's valuable collection of prints, drawings, &c. 170 This sale, which took place on l l February 1769, turned out to be the first major sale at Christie's, bringing £1,327 ros. 6d. for 85 lots. Russel's Raphael sold for roo guineas. 171 In the same announcement, there was a notice for a second auction of Russel's prints and drawings, but the evidence is unclear whether it took place. 172 Still, while details of Russel's collection are sketchy at best, it is nevertheless clear that by the time of his death, he had come a long way from selling his paintings below value just to have enough to eat. 173 * * * James Russel was at the peak of his career in 1763. He was the premier British antiquary at Rome, the rise in influence of Thomas Jenkins notwithstanding. Therefore, when a Mr M. Stephenson nded ;-50s. per. ion. son) ve were me will ristie 's, ~ same )Ut the ketchy selling R.ome, LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Fig. 12 Capitoline Flora, c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and gr;1phitc on paper. Inscribed 'IR'. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) Fig. 13 Paetus and Arria (Villa Ludovisi, now in Museo Nazionale Romane), c. 1745-5os. Red chalk and graphite on paper. Private collection. (Photograph: T. D. Holt-Wilson) arrived in Rome in 1763, he expected to hire either Russel or Ridolfino Venuti, the Pope's Commissario delle Antichiti, as his guide. When Stephenson found both Russel and Venuti ill throughout the winter of 1763, he turned to a third person, recommended by Cardinal Alessandro Albani. This was Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Venuti's successor as Commissario delle Antichita. 174 Clearly, Russel was well respected to be placed among the finest antiquaries of mid-settecento Rome. After a sickness that lasted months, Venuti succumbed in March 1763.175 Russel held out until August, trying for a cure at S. Casciano dei Bagni, but to no avail. 176 The legacy of James Russel is mixed. As an artist, his influence was minimal, and he was one 0 _f the countless artisans whose commissions have disappeared into obscurity. His influence as a ~lcerone and antiquary is of greater import, however. If it was true, as the Public Advertiser reported ~n I763, that Russel 'attended, with Reputation, as an Antiquary, most of our Travellers', then it 15 safe to say that he was a significant figure in eighteenth-century Italy, Britain and Ireland. 177 He w:uld have helped to shape the tastes and sensibilities of a generation of elite travellers at the dawn 0 the ~rand Tour's golden age. It was only when that generation died that Russel slipped into anonynmy. R Wit~ t~e collecting of Iolo Williams and the scholarship of Sir Brinsley Ford, fragments from U.\Sel 5 life began to re-emerge in the mid-twentieth century. Their work helped revive and 79 JASON M. KELLY interest in the Grand Tour and English artists of the eighteenth century. In the last fifteen years, scholars have begun to reassess the role of less-famous artists and antiquaries who made up the majority of the British and Irish expatriate community in Italy. James Russel is one among the many who shed light on some of the unexamined facets of life for these characters - their culture, their social structures, their politics and their struggles. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following institutions and their staff for their assistance during my research on James Russel: the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the British Library, the British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings, Christie's, the Frick Art Reference Library, the Getty Research Institute, the National Library of Ireland, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Warwickshire County Record Office and the Yale Center for British Art. I am especially grate­ ful to the British Library, the Devon Record Office, the National Library oflreland and the Warwickshire County Record Office for giving me permission to transcribe and publish the correspondence of James Russel. Many thanks go to my research assistants, Kathryn Lomasney and Jordan Warner, who assisted in transcribing the letters. For their advice and suggestions, I am in debt to Helen Berry, Edward Corp, Peter Bjorn Kerber, Edgar Peters Bowron, Hugh Brigstocke, Jeffrey Collins, Renate Dahmen, Craig Hanson, Tim Holt-Wilson, Clare Hornsby, Lynda Mcleod, Charles Sebag-Montefiore, Kim Sloan, and, most especially, my wife, Kristen Cooper. ABBREVIATIONS Alum. Oxon. BL Joseph Foster (ed.), Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714, vol. 3, Oxford, 1891 British Library CCED DBIT Clergy of the Church of England Database Sir Brinsley Ford andJohn Ingamells (eds), A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701-1800, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 1997 Letters, 1 Letters, 2 OCRO WSRO Uames Russel], Letters from a Young Painter Abroad, London, 1748 Uames Russel), Letters from a Young Painter Abroad, vol. 2, 2nd edn, London, 1750 Oxford County Records Office West Sussex Records Office NOTES 1 Andrew Lurnisden, Remarks on the Antiquities ef Rome and Its Environs, London, 1812, p. 379. 2 On the British antiquaries and ciceroni that followed Russel, see Ilaria Bignamini and Clare Hornsby, Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2010; Jules David Prown, 'A Course of Antiq­ uities at Rome, 1764', Eighteenth-Century Studies, 31, no. l, 1997, pp. 90-100. 3 This is a neglected aspect of Grand Tour historiography, which deserves further investigation. On sailor networks, see Scott Ashley, 'How Navigators Think: The Death of Captain Cook Revisited', Past & Present, 194, no. l, 2007, pp. 107-37; Elizabeth Spoden, 'Masculinity and British Maritime Culture, 1750-1820', MA thesis, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, 2010. 80 4 Frank Salmon, 'Stuart as Antiquary and Archaeologist in Italy and Greece', in]ames 'Athenian' Stuart, 1713-1788: The Rediscovery ef Antiquity, ed. by Susan Weber Soros, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 102-45; DBIT; Brinsley Ford, 'Richard Wilson in Rome. I - The Wicklow Wilsons', The Burlington Magazine, 93, no. 578, May 1951, pp. 157-67. See also the Sir Brinsley Ford archive at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. 5 Alum. Oxon., pp. 1291-92. 6 Thomas Russel matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, on 12 November 1627 at the age of nineteen. He earned his BA on 25June 1628 and his MA on 30 May 163!. See Alum. Oxon., p. 1292. Bishop Richard Corbet ordained him as a deacon on 6 April l 6 3 1 and as a priest on l 8 December 163 r. WSRO Ep.II/r 1/3 (CCED, [accessed 5 April 2010]) records ch: be un Fe (11 19 in C< s ' Ri lit• 0 Fi: ]01 Pc c. 16 La of (ec M 'T IO an (e• u bi: Pf R A1 (e• la1 A. 0 of Pr R I( IF la I( I~ la u M 2- th on James !partment itute, the of British illy grate. wicks hire !s Russel, nscribing :~;~~ l Kerber, ,;;~ -Wilson \' :, Kriste~ .~,~ College, een. He ay 163 r. irdained t on 18 '/WWW· records · · LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD I rector ofStJohn's sub Castro from 3 Decem-usse was h d . this . . May 1641" however, e serve m pos1tton 632 to 25° e Colin E. Brent, 'The Neutering of the 1661. e · . d the Emergence of a Tory Party m Lewes .. [ 8):n in Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol. 121, _rI6 95~ro8. On 4July 1635, Russel became a preacher l• :PArchdeaconry of Chichester (WSRO Ep.II/2/2, th , [accessed ·.·· ril 2010]). l · R l" . . L s· h {'; . · ... , Jeremy Goring, Burn Hoy Ftre: e zgion in ewes mce t e ·.···.'.'."-.. ·.:·.·«Morr-·""· · Cambridge: Lutterworth, 2003, pp. 48, 53. The · '"'· · nation, . . ~·~~ -.. wre on .Arminianism and _the ~audian reforms is vast. "' "Jlter.I th · history and the h1stonography, see Kenneth ell 'The Restoration of Altars. in the 1630s', Historical /, .i'.i., no. 4, 200~, PP: 919-40; Andrew Foster, 'Church · of the 1630s', m Richard Cust and Ann Hughes (eds), ,,,; '()mfa~ in Early Stuart England: Studies in Religion and _Politics, ···rtqri642 London: Longman, 1989, pp. 193-223, Peter -~· (.#c:, 'Th~ Laudian ~tyle: Order, Uni~o~ty and the _Pursuit -:.·::''of'lhe Beauty ofHolmess m the r63os, m Kenneth _Fincham i'; (W.) Tiie Early Stuart Church, 1603-1642, Basingstoke: . \~an, 1993,pp. 161-85;WilliamMontgomerieLamont, · 'The: Rise of Arminianism Reconsidered', Past & Present, ' lf11, 1985, pp. 227-JI; James ~e~rs ,M.cGee.' 'William Laud ,·"and the Outward Face of Religton , m Richard Demolen .. (ed.), Leaders of the Reformation, Selingro~e, PA: Susqu~hanna '. University Press, 1984, pp. 318-44; Kevm M. Sharpe, Arch­ m.hop Laud', in Margo Todd (ed.), Reformation to Revolution: flolitia and Religion in Early Modern England, London: · l\oudedge, 1995, pp. 71-77; Nicholas Tyacke, 'Puritanism, AmUnianism and Counter-Revolution', in Conrad Russell ·.(ed.), Tl1e Origins of the English Civil War, London: Macrnil­ lim. 1973, pp. 119-43, 261-62, 270-'71; Nicholas Tyacke, . '-· dllli-Calvinists: The Rise of English Arminianism c. 1590-1640, ' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987; Nicholas Tyacke, 'The Rise m Anninianism Reconsidered', Past & Present, II 5, 1987, pp. 201-29; Peter White, 'The Rise of Arminianism Reconsidered', Past & Present, IOI, 1983, pp. 34-54. • 'House of Commons Journal Volume 2: 29 October l4µ',joum11/ of the House of Commons: volume 2: 1640-1643, }Sm. pp. 826-27, [l«essed 5 April 2oro]. · 9 'House of Commons Journal Volume 2: l l November $µ',jo11m11/ of the House of Commons: volume 2: 1640-1643, tb, PP· 844-45, fm:esscd 5 April 2010]. ·. 10 G . B ·'JI onng, urn Holy Fire, p. 53. Alum. Oxon., p. 1292. Richard Russel matriculated at ·umvenity College, Oxford, on II April 1660, attending .~en College through a demyship. · <;">CRO, MS Oxf. Dioc. Papers e. 14; WSRO Ep.I/3/ li--J, mformation compiled in the CCED, [accessed l April 20IO]. ~WSRO Ep.1/3/3, CCED, M .o~.uk> [accessed l April 20IO]. ~ ~ Had.low Wise Dunkin (ed.), Calendar of Sussex ,"?-·· it N . censes, vol. 6, Sussex Record Society, 1907, p. 74. __ 1.6 anona] Archives, London, Probate 11 I 454. .:.;,~:·:.'.; 17 Al11~1 - Oxon., p. 1292. c_''.'t~~- ~~~I Archives, London, Probate u/ 454. .·. ·. Ep.I/ l/ rn; CCED, [accessed l April 2oIO]. 81 19 Dunkin, Calendar of Sussex Marriage Licenses, vol. 6, p. 205. 20 Draft of Marriage Contract, 3 September 1712, East Sussex Records Office, FRE/672. 21 Richard Russel, The]unto. A Poem, London, 1712, p. 6; Richard Russel, The Impeachment: or, the Church Triumphant. A Poem, London, 1712, p. 6. 22 Jeffrey Scott Chamberlain, Accommodating High Churchmen, Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1997, p. 43. 23 Richard Russel, The Obligation of Acting According to Conscience, Especially as to Oaths. A Farewell Sermon Preached Jan. 22. 1715/6, London, 1716, p. 20. 24 Ibid., p. 22. 25 Ibid. 26 James T. Hillhouse, The Grub-Street journal, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1928, p. 43. 27 Thomas Hearne, Remarks and Collections of Thomas Hearne, vol. 8, Oxford: Clarendon Press for the Oxford Historical Society, 1907, p. 376. 28 Pasquier Quesnel, The New Testament, with Moral Reflections upon Every Verse, ed. by Richard Russel, vol. I, London, 1719, pp. viii, xiv-xix. 29 Ibid., p. xix. 30 Bertrand Goldgar, 'Pope and the "Grub-Street Journal"', Modern Philology, 74, no. 4, 1977, p. 370; Henry Broxap, The Later Non-jurors, Cambridge: Cambridge Uni­ versity Press, 1924, p. 153· See, for example, Hilkiah Bedford to Thomas Hearne, 8 December 1718, in Thomas Hearne, Remarks and Collections of Thomas Hearne, vol. 6, Oxford: Clarendon Press for the Oxford Historical Society, 1902, p. 267, as well as Thomas Hearne, Remarks and Collections of Thomas Hearne, vol. IO, Oxford: Clarendon Press for the Oxford Historical Society, 1915, p. II6. See also the Russel Correspondence in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University MS Eng. Th. C 26. 31 Hearne, Remarks and Collections, vol., 6, p. 263. 32 Eustace Budgell, 'A Letter from the Authors of the Bee to Russel, a Clergyman, Living in Smith's-Square, near the Horse-Ferry, in Westminster, and the Reputed Author of the Grub-Street Journal', The Bee, 4, 4 December 1733, p. 72. 33 John Nichols and Samuel Bentley, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 2, London, 1812, pp. 505-06. 34 'The Minute Book of the Partners in the Grub Street Journal', Publishing History, 4, 1978, pp. 49-94· On Russel's and the Grub Street journal's politics, see Hillhouse, The Grub­ Street journal; Alexander Pettit, fllusory Consensus: Bolingbroke and the Polemical Response to Walpole, 1730-1737, Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997. 35 Richard Russel, 'The Art of Trimming Emblematically Displayed', Grub Street journal, no. 200, 25 October 1733; Richard Russel, 'To Mr. Bavius, Secretary to the Society of Grub-Street', Grub Street journal, no. 204, 22 November 1733; Budgell, 'A Letter from the Authors of the Bee to Russel, a Clergyman, living in Smith's-Square, near the Horse-Ferry, in Westminster, and the Reputed Author of the Grub-Street Journal'; Eustace Budgell, 'A Second Letter from the Authors of the Bee to Parson Russel, the Reputed Author of the Grub-Street Journal', The Bee, 4, 6 December 1733, pp. 80-82; Richard Russel, 'A Continuation of the Letter Concerning the Late Great Dr. Tindal's Will, begun in our JASON M. KELLY 204thJournal', Grub Street]oumal, no. 206, 6 December 1733; Richard Russel, 'From the Pegasus in Grub Street', Grub Street journal, no. 207, 13 December 1733; Richard Russel, 'A Continuation of the Letter Concerning the Great Dr. Tindal's Will, begun in our 204thJournal, and continued in the 206th', Grub Street journal, no. 208, 20 December 1733; Richard Russel, 'A Letter Concerning Dr. Tindal's Will Continued', Grub Street journal, no. 217, 21 February 1734. 36 Raymond Williamson, 'John Martyn and the Grub Street Journal: with Particular Reference to His Attacks on Richard Bentley, Richard Bradley and William Cheselden', Medical History, 5, no. 4, 1961, p. 362. While Russel's co-editor John Martyn is most often associated with the writer 'Bavius', it is likely that some of these were also written by Russel. See Alexander Pettit, 'The Grub Street Journal and the Politics of Anachronism', Philological Quarterly, 69, 1990, p. 448. 37 Grub Street]oumal, no. 22, 4June 1730. 38 Grub Street journal, no. 21, 28 May 1730. A four-volume edition went to press in 1734 as Robert Estienne et al. (eds), Roberti Stephani thesaurus lingua? LAtina?, 5 vols, London: Samuel Harding, 1734. Russel was not one of the four edi­ tors, and it is unclear whether this was a separate editorial project entirely. 39 Marco Girolamo Vida, Marci Hieronymi vida? Cremonensis alba? episcopi poemata qua? extant omnia. Quibus nunc primum adjiciuntur ejusdem dialogi de rei-publicae dignitate, ed. by Richard Russel, 2 vols, London, 1732. 40 SS. Patrum Apostolicorum Barnabae, Hermae, Clementis, Ignatii, Polycaipi, opera genuina, 2 vols, London, 1746; Grub Street journal, no. 127, Thursday, 8 June 1732. 41 Letters, 1, pp. 261-62. 42 George Fisher Russell Barker and Alan H. Stenning (eds), The Record of Old Westminsters, vol. 2, London: Chiswick Press, 1928, p. 806; John Beach Whitmore and G. R. Y. Radcliffe (eds), A Supplementary Volume to The Record of Old Westminsters, London: Chiswick Press for The Elizabethan Club, 1937; Hearne, Remarks and Collections, vol. IO, p. 84; Sir Brinsley Ford Archive, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, James Russel Folder. 43 Letters, 1, p. 50. 44 Viccy Coltman, Fabricating the Antique: Neoclassicism in Britain, 1760-1800, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006; M. V. Wallbank, 'Eighteenth Century Public Schools and the Education of the Governing Elite', History of Educa­ tion: journal of the History of Education Society, 8, no. 1, 1979, p. I. 45 John Sargeaunt, Annals of Westminster School, London: Methuen & Co. 1898, p. 138. 46 Richard Russel, A Letter to Dr. Addington of Reading, on His Refusal to Join in Consultation with a Physician, Who Had Taken His Degree Abroad, and Was Approved and Licensed by the College of Physicians in London. By Richard Russel, M.D., 2nd edn, London, 1749, p. 6. 47 Royal College of Physicians of London et al., The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: 1701 to 1800, published by The College, 1878, p. 149. 48 Andrew Cunningham and Roger Kenneth French, The Medical Enlightenment of the Eighteenth Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 145-48. 49 Letters, 1, p. 83. so Nichols and Bentley, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, 2:506; Ruth Smith, 'The Achievements of Charles Jennens (1700-1773)', Music & Letters, 70, no. 2, 1989, p. 169. st Letters, 1, pp. 62-63. s2 Iolo A. Williams, 'Watercolours by J. Russel', The Burlington Magazine, 93, no. 580, July 1951, p. 239. 53 Kim Sloan, 'A Noble Art': Amateur Artists and Drawing Masters c. 1600-1800, London: British Museum Press, 2000. 54 Ilaria Bignamini, 'George Vertue, Art Historian, and Art Institutions in London, 1689-1768: A Study of Clubs and Academies', Walpole Society, LIV, 1991 for 1988, pp. 1-148. ss Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, 12 February 1747/8 OS, BL Add. MS 41169, ( 5v; Ingrid Roscoe, 'Peter Scheemakers', Walpole Society, LXI, 1999, p. 168. s6 Alistair Smart, The Life and Art of Allan Ramsay, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952, p. 25. 57 Letters, 1, p. I. 58 Paul Kleber Monod, jacobitism and the English People, 1688-1788, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 330. 59 Russel notes staying with a Monsieur Bourgeois in Fontainebleau, one of his brother Richard's acquaintances in France. 60 Letters, I, p. 17. 61 Russsel's itinerary was Paris (early November), Fontainebleau (20 November), Lyons (25 November-7 December), Avignon (9 December), Marseilles (n.d. December-I January 1740), Leghorn (9-14January), Rome (24 January). 62 Letters, I, p. 17. 63 On the court, see Edward Corp, 'English Royalty in Exile: Maintaining Continuity in France and Italy After 1689', in Franc;:ois Laroque and Franck Lessay (eds), Figures de la royaute en Angleterre de Shakespeare a la Glorieuse Revolution, Paris: Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1999; Edward Corp, The King Over the Water: Portraits of the Stuarts in Exile After 1689, Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 2001; Edward Corp, The Stuart Courts in Exile, London: Royal Stuart Society, 2005; Eveline Cruickshanks and Edward Corp, The Stuart Court in Exile and the Jacobites, London: Hambledon, 1995; Gabriel Glickman, 'Andrew Michael Ramsay (1683-1743), the Jacobite Court and the English Catholic Enlightenment', Eighteenth-Century Thought, 3, 2007, pp. 293-329; Lesley Lewis, Connoisseurs and Secret Agents in Eighteenth-Century Rome, London: Chatto & Windus, 1961; Robin Nicholson, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Making of a Myth: A Study in Portraiture, 1720-1892, Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2002; Basil Skinner, Scots in Italy in the 18th Century, Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1966; Daniel Szechi, 'The Image of the Court: Idealism, Politics and the Evolution of the Stuart Court, 1689-1730', in Edward Corp (ed.), The Stuart Court in Rome: The Legacy of Exile, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003, pp. 49-64· 64 Letters, 1,p. 17. 6s Letters, I, pp. 17-18. 66 Craig Ashley Hanson, The English Virtuoso: Art, Medicine, and Antiquarianism in the Age of Empiricism, Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2009, p. 193. Ji \\ 'I j\ 11 1 /' s ]• 3 t I [ ssel', ~oyalty in taly After. Figures tie Zevolutio11, ard Corp,_ Exile After London: Michael·• .e English iought, 3. ?cretAgenu dus, 1961: Making of Jurg, PA: ots in Italy ti Portrait LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD · J,.ttters, l, P- 18. - Letters, l, PP· 33-34, 83· Anthony M. Clark, 'Imperiali', The Burlington Magazine, no. 734, May 1964, p. 233. ~-- fro!11 Letters, 1, p. 2_II, it is. dear tha~ Ru~sel's master · not Agostino Masucci. ~ee Giuliano ~ngantl et al. (eds), Caffeaus', in Pittura antica, la decorazwne mural, Milan: dori E!ecta, 1996, PP· 296-97. Michael Wynne, 'Members from Great Britain and dofthe Florentine Accademia de! Disegno 1700-1855', 17ft Burlington Magazine 132, no. 1049, 1990, pp. 535-38; )\nrhony Hughes, '"An Academy for Doing" II: Academies, c· 5unJS and Power in Early Modem Europe', Oxford Art c_·;. Jinm"''· 9, n~. 2, .1986, pp. 50-62; Nicola ~ig~s, 'Irish Ar~ts -~-; and Society m Eighteenth Century Rome , Insh Arts Review, ··- %·•1' 110• 3, 1986, pp. 28-36; Peter Walch, 'Foreign Artists at rt Jllaple5: 1750-1799', The Burlington Magazine, 121, no. 913, <-April 1979, pp. 247-56; Marsha Morton, 'Acadewic Life --~ l)rawing in Rome', in Richard]. Campbell (ed.), Visions ~ .. -f Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawings, Los Angeles and Minneapolis: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1993, pp. 75-85; Michael McCarthy. 'Art Education and the Grand Tour', in Moshe - · .. Bmsch, Lucy Freeman Sandler and Patricia Egan (ed.), Art, 'Ifie Ape of Nature: Studies in Honor of H. W. Janson, New York: H. N. Abrams, 1981, pp. 477-94; E. K. Waterhouse, 'P3inring in Rome in the Eighteenth Century', Art Institute of C/iitllgo M11se11m Studies, 6, 1971, pp. 7-21. n utters, 1, p. 5. '!') utters, I, p. 213. '• On the progression of eighteenth-century artistic mining, see George Vertue, 'Scheme for an Academy and O:wing School', Walpole Society, xx, 193 l, pp. 150-55. _· - . utters, I' pp. 73, So. : 1ff uuers, 1, p. 212. ', n M~rton, 'Academic Life Drawing in Rome'. " Michel Olivier, 'L' Accademia', in Andre Chaste! and • (;eorgcs Vallet (eds), Le Palais Farnese, vol. r, Rome: Ecole han~ai.se de Rome, 1980, p. 340; ; 'La formation des artistes ,etnngers a Rome. Leur presence a l'"Accademia del nudo" M 1754 a 180?', Classe di Scienze Morali, 24, 2000, pp. 279--!)5; ---- '~ch~l Olivier, Giancarlo Sestieri and Nicola Spinosa, ;~nat1o Conca (1680-1764), Gaeta: Centro Storico ·~e, 1981. '·. · .. - James Russel to Willi.am D k D b I ra e, 9 ecem er 1747, :Add. MS 41169, f. 8v. in· DBIT, pp. 1061-65. ,,,,.James Russel to William D k D b 81. Add. MSS ra e, 9 ecem er 1747, 'lit 41169, f. Sv. , Nikolaus Pevs A d · . Y.'· -..1.. D ner, ca emies of Art Past and Present, New · WI!.; a Capo Pres - • . . . s, 1973, pp. II3-14; Carlo Pietrangeli . - 1 e v1cende dell' A d · , - , ' Li R cca errua , m L Accademia nazionale 'Mica, ome: De Luca, 1974, pp. 3-28· Anthony M anners and M th ds fB . , . (cd . . e 0 o enefial', m Edgar Peters · gton .)0 S~t~tes 111 Roman Eighteenth-Century Painting, pber' M: S. Decatur, House Press, 1981, pp. 68-'79; era . _ · Johns, Papal Patronage and Cultural cat ~ Edi~ghteenth-Century Rome: Clement XI and '' emia San L ' E' h 1988 uca ' ig teenth-Century Studies 22 'pp. 1-23. ' , B3 Letters, l, pp. 227-28. B4 Letters, 1, pp. 229-30. Bs Joseph Spence to William Burrell Massingberd, 6 January 1741, Beinecke Library, Yale University, Osborn MS q55/4. B6 Letters, 1, pp. 230-3 r. B7 James Russel to Revd Richard Russel, c. April 1749, BL Add. MS 4II69, ff l9v-2ov. BB A_· ~arker in England helped raise a yearly eight-guinea subscnption to support Stuart and Revett's expedition to Athens. See Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, 7 S~~tember 1749, BL Add. MSS 4II69, f. 37v. James Russel to Revd Richard Russel, 18 November 1749 and 7 April 1150, BL Add. MS 41169, ff 4or, 44r; Jason M. Kelly, The Society of Dilettanti: Archaeology and Identity in the British Enlightenment, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2009, pp. 105-1 r. 90 Letters, 2, p. 361. 91 B' .. 'G 1gnamm1, eorge V ertue'; Ilaria Bignamini, '] ean- ~emard Le Blanc et l'Academie anglais de 1749', Revue de 1 Art, 73, no. l, 1986, pp. 17-27; Ilaria Bignamini, 'The Accompaniment to Patronage: A Study of the Origins, Rise and Development of an Institutional System for the Arts in Britain 1692-1768', PhD thesis, Courtauld, 1988; Holger Hoock, The King's Artists: The Royal Academy of Arts and the Politics of British Culture 1760-1840, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 92 Jean-Bernard le Blanc, Lettres d'un Franfais concemant le gouvemement, la politique et les moeurs des Anglois et des Franfois, 3 vols, The Hague, 1745, and Letters on the English and French Nations, 2 vols, London, 1747· 93 Le Blanc, Letters on the English, p. 156. 94 Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837, New H~~en: Yale University Press, l 994; Douglas Fordham, Bntish Art ~nd th~ Sev~n Years' War: Allegiance and Autonomy, Philadelphia:.Umversrty of Pennsylvania Press, 2010; Holger Hoock, Emp1res of the Imagination: Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World, 1750-1850, London: Profile Books, 2010; Kathleen Wilson, The Sense of the People: Politics, Culture, and Imperialism in England, 1715-1785, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. :: Gentlem~n,'s ;-1agazine, vol. 19, July 1749, p. 319. Bignamrm, George Vertue', p. 14. Bignamini claims that Vertue's Scheme for an Academy and Drawing School dates to July 1749 when he was discussing the academy with the Prince. See Remembrancer, no. 173, 30 March 1151; Public Advertiser, no. 5964, 8 December 1753; Vertue, Notebooks II, Walpole Society, vol. xx, 1931-32, pp. 150-55; Bignamini 'The Accompaniment to Patronage', pp. 404-18; Kelly, Th~ Society of Dilettanti, pp. 92-95. 97 Letters, 2, pp. 36o-61. 9B James Russel to Revd Richard Russel, 13 September 1754, BL Add. MS 4II69, f. 63v. 99 Gentleman's Magazine, 22, 1752, p. 288. In addition to Charlemont, the sponsors were Thomas Bruce-Brudenell, Baron Bruce; John Child, 2nd Earl Tilney; Thomas Needham, 9th Viscount Kilmorey; Sir Thomas Kennedy; Jo~. W~rd; L~s:elles Raymond Iremonger; Benjamin Le1thieullier; William Bagot; Thomas Scrope; Mr Cook; Thomas Lipyeatt; and Edward Murphy. --l~i-' -- ­ / I JASON M. KELLY 100 James Russel to Revd Richard Russel, I 3 September 1754, BL Add. MS 4u69, £ 64r. 101 Gentleman's Magazine, 22, 1752, p. 288; London Daily Advertiser, no. 409, 22 June 1752; Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, 2 November 1752, BL Add. MS 4u69, f. 65v. 102 James Russel to Revd Richard Russel, 13 September 1754, BL Add. MS 4u69, £ 64r. 103 John Parker to Edward Murphy, 5 April 1758, in James Caulfeild, Earl of Charlemont, The Manuscripts and Correspon­ dence of James, First Earl ef Charlemont, vol. I, Historical Manuscripts Commussion, 12th Report, Appendix, part X, London: HMSO, 1891, p. 246. 104 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Lettere di giustificazione scritte a Milord Charlemont e a di lui agenti di Roma, Rome, 1757; Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Observations on the Letter ef Monsieur Mariette, ed. by John Wilton-Ely, trans. by Caroline Beamish and David Britt, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2002; Giambattista Piranesi and John Wilton-Ely, The Polemical Works, Rome 1757, 1761, 1765, 1769, Farnborough, Hants.: Gregg, 1972; Heather Hyde Minor, 'Engraved in Porphyry, Printed on Paper: Piranesi and Lord Charlemont', in Heather Hyde Minor, Mario Bevilacqua and Fabio Barry (eds), The Serpent and the Stylus: Essays on G. B. Piranesi, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2007, pp. 123-47. 105 John Parker to Edward Murphy, 5 April 1758 in Charlemont, The Manuscripts and Correspondence ef James, First Earl of Charlemont, vol. l, p. 247. Russel's relationship with Piranesi is further exemplified in Piranesi's list of recipients for his Piranesi, Lettere di giustifzcazione scritte a Milord Charlemont ea di lui agenti di Roma. See Michael]. McCarthy, 'Andrew Lurnisden and Giovanni Battista Piranesi', in Clare Hornsby (ed.), The Impact ef Jtaly: The Grand Tour and Beyond, London: British School at Rome, 2000, p. 74. 106 Parker to Charlemont, 4 October 1758, in Charlemont, The Manuscripts and Correspondence ef James, First Earl ef Charlemont, vol. l, pp. 241-42. 107 Salmon, 'Stuart as Antiquary and Archaeologist in Italy and Greece'; Frank Salmon, 'Charles Heathcote Tatham and the Accadernia di S. Luca, Rome', The Burlington Magazine, 140, no. u39, 1998, pp. 85--!)2; Wynne, 'Members from Great Britain and Ireland of the Florentine Accadernia del Disegno 1700-1855'. 108 Letters, l, p. 230. 109 Letters, l, p. 213. 110 Letters, l, pp. 55, loo. 111 Letters, I, p. 55; Joseph Spence to Mirabella Spence, 25 March 1741, BL Eg. MS 2234, ff. 253-54, transcribed in Joseph Spence, Letters from the Grand Tour, ed. by Slava Klima, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1975, pp. 362- 64. 112 Letters, l, 109, pl. I opp. p. 139. 113 Letters, l, p. 84. 114 Letters, r, p. 56; Harry T. Dickinson, 'The October Club', The Huntington Library Quarterly, 33, no. 2, 1970, pp. 155-73. 115 Letters, l, p. 74. 116 Letters, I, p. 82. 117 Spence to Massingberd, 6 January 1741, Beinecke Library, Yale University, Osborn MS q55/ 4. 118 Letters, l, p. 90. 119 Letters, l, p. 238. 120 Letters, r, p. 239. 121 Ralph Edwards, 'A Conversation Piece by J Russel', The Burlington Magazine, 93, no. 577, April 19 pp. 126-29; Brinsley Ford, 'The Grand Tour', Apollo, 1 1981, p. 5. 122 DBIT, pp. uo-n; Edward Charles, A Full Collecti All the Proclamations and Orders Published by the Authori Charles, Prince of Wales, Regent ef Scotland, England, France, Ireland, and Dominions Thereunto Belonging, Since His Arriv Edinburgh, the 17th Day efSeptember, till the 15th of October, 1 (Glasgow], 1745, pp. <;-13. 123 Letters, l, p. 24I. 124 Horace Mann to Horace Walpole, 4 January 17 Walpole Correspondence, vol. 19, p. 19I. . 125 Mann to Walpole, 4 January 1746, Walpole Corre.sp. dence, vol. 19, p. I9I. · 126 Mann to Walpole, 18 January 1746, Walpole Corresp' dence, vol. 19, p. 196; Mann to Newcastle, 4January 1746 II January 1746, National Archives, London, SP 98/51/ p. 22 quoted in Walpole Correspondence, vol. 19, p. 191 fu, · 127 Letters, 2, p. 6. 128 Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, 12 Feb 1747/8 OS, BL Add. MS 41169, f. 4v; Letters, 2, p. 6. 129 James Dodsley, representing James's brothers, ofii the following in June 1769: 'PROPOSALS for publishing Subscription, in 2 Vols. 8vo. Anecdotes and Observations the Antiquities and Curiosities of Rome and its Environs. the late Mr. James Russel, Antiquarian, who was more Twenty Years resident in that capital City. The work will Interspersed with many Copper Plates. The Price to S scribers One Guinea in the large Paper, and Twelve Sh" · in the small'. See Public Advertiser, no. 10793, 6 June l The following year, Andrew Ducarel was handling subs tions for the proposed volume. John Burton to An Ducarel, 16 May 1770, in fllustrations ef the Literary Risto the Eighteenth Century, vol. 3, ed. John Nichols, Lond 1818, p. 394: 'Mr. [Francis] Smith [Jr., Esq.] is with me; desires me to pay his respects to you, with thanks for the · of the Members of our Antiquarian Society, some of wh he is acquainted with, and will write to two of them. He , is obliged to you for your recommendation to our wo President, to whom also Mr. Pegge has recommen Mr. Smith, ------ who desires the favour of you to hav name to be entered as a Subscriber to the late Mr. R "Anecdotes and Observations on the Antiquities of Ro &c.' 130 Jonathan Skelton to William Herring, 28 June 175. Brinsley Ford, 'The Letters of Jonathan Skelton Wn from Rome and Tivoli in 1758', Walpole Sodety, 1956, p. 47. ' 131 Seymour Howard, 'An Antiquarian Handlist and B. nings of the Pio-Clementina', Eighteenth-Century Stu_ no. 1, Autumn 1973, pp. 4o-61; Francis Haskell and Ni Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Scul 1500-1900, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. 132 Leon Lagrange, Joseph Vernet et la peinture au XVJIIe Paris: Didier, 1864, p. 438. 133 Letters, l, pp. 244-45; 2, p. 357. 134 John Hervey, Lord Hervey to Lady Mary Wo Montagu, l I April [1741], in Robert Halsband (ed,), BLP ,,. "' l)ll BL 10 R"' () BL HI BL ,., , .. Lor ,., IJL IJ Ru 411 14' Ya. 14' I.it ... Ya ,. Dl llr R1 41 ., J81 Sil M I' ll ~ LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD e Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Monta~u, vol. 2: Oxford: don Press, 1966, p. 234; Lesley Lewis, Connoisseurs and Agents in Eighteenth Century Rome, London: Chatto & 1961, pp. 144-48. J311le5 Russel to Revd Richard Russel, 14 June 1752, Add- MS 41169, f. 59r. •,f., Ibid. ; ; :J:.3'-"'i\tl' Ibid. . ·~-F~James Russel to ~alph Howard, 6 June 1752, Nati.anal '~ 1:1 t.- 41169, f. I IV. · ' JJa I May 1749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 6r May 1749 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 14 72r-72v II May 1749 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 15 2rv-23r 15 May 1749 Rome James Russel to Elizabeth Bond (nee 62 14 Jt Russel) .lt]l 5June 1749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 63 JI j1 8June 1749 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 16 23r-25r c. Ar 14June 1749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 17 25v-27r 30June 1749 Rome London James Russel to Dr Richard Rnssel 64 tOS· 7 July 1749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 65 25 i: 20July 1749 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel IS 27v-28v 25July I749 Rome James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 66 29July I749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel I9 29r-33r 7 August I749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 67 tljl IO August I 7 49 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 20 33r-34v I2 August I749 Rome London James Russel to William Russel 2I 34v-35v 27 August I749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 68 3 September 1749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 69 c. lat 7 September I 7 49 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 22 36r-37v I5 September I749 Rome James Russel to Dennis Bond 70 15 September I749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 49 I7 September I749 Rome London James Russel to John Quicke 23 Devon County Records Office, Exeter. Quicke Family Papers, 64/12i2IIIII35 3 o September I 7 49 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 7I IO October I749 Rome London James Russel to Clementina Russel 50 IO October I749 Rome James Russel to Elizabeth Bond (nee 72 Russel) 17 October I749 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 24 38v-39r 18 October I749 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 25 37v-38v 25 October I749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 73 IO November I749 Rome James Russel to Dr Richard Russel 74 IB November I749 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 26 39v-4ov 23 December I749 Rome London James Russel to William Russel 27 4ov-4Iv 29 December I749 Rome London George Lockhart (Lory) to William 28 45r Russell 6 January I750 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 29 4Iv-42r 22 February I749/ 50 London Rome Revd Russell to James Russell 30 42r-43r 7 April 1750 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 3I 43v-44v 5 May I750 Rome James Russel to Elizabeth Bond (nee 32 45v-46v Russel) c.June 1750 London Rome Clementina(?) Russel to James Russel 33 44v 30 August I750 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 34 47r-48v 13 October 1750 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 35 48v-5ov 27 October I750 Rome London James Russel to William Russel 36 5ov-51v 2I March I750II London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 37 51v-52r 13 July I75I Rome London James Russel to William Russel 38 52v-53r 24 October I75I London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 39 53r-54v 30 November I75I Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 40 55r-56r 9 January I752 London Rome Revd Richard Russel to James Russel 4I 57r-58r I9 January 1752 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 42 56v r8 March I752 Rome Venice James Russel to Ralph Howard 43 88 LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Sender Receiver Sender!Redpient Letters Letters Manuscript BL Add. Other Date Location Location Edition 1 Edition 2 Letter MS41169 MSS Number 6June 1752 Rome Dublin James Russel to Ralph Howard 44 National Library of Ireland, Wicklow MSS 38628/9 14June 1752 Rome London James Russel to Revd Richard Russel 45 58v---. 90 1ad VO :or pts VO ~d. ire he :e­ tce lil )W LVe ~'. ers /'. .]'. :he LCh ers .ar, ms to :he :he )li; :la ere v of )rd ~ at LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD [front Matter, BL Add. MSS 4u69, f. Ir] [Clipping from auction catalogue:] ·. . [Lot] 6 RARE SUSSEX FAMILY MS. - A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN MS., transcript. of FAMILY LETTERS between Members of the RUSSELL Family, of Literary, Artistic and Antiquarian Note, on 136 pp., 4to, covering the Correspondence from Jan. 1747, to July 31st, 1753, 4to, orig. old veil. Gives int. al. an interesting glimpse ofUPPER CLASS LIFE during the middle XVIII. Cent; - Internal Evidence tends to establish the fact that this Russell was the Rev. Robt., of Wadhurst, Sussex, Author of PATRUM APOSTOLICORUM, &c., and there is an unused receipt subscription form (No. 395, dated 1729, and SIGNED Ric. Russe[0 for above work enclosed- In r letter is the following. 'My tenant Bluck died the beginning of Jany. (r750), on wh. acct. I was obliged to go into SUSSEX about the latter end. where I .was ~etained about 6 weeks, &c., _The MS. would also please an ARCHJEOLOGICAL COLLECTOR - It is evidently one of two or more MSS.3 [Inscribed:] Purchased of the Homeland Association, 8 November 1924. Letter I [James Russel, Rome, to William Drake, 9 December 1747. BL Add. MSS 4u69, ff. 8v-9v] To William Drake Esq. Rome, Dec. 9. 1748 NS Dear Sir, I confess that your reprimand in yours favour'd me Octob. 30. is very just, I having too long delay'd keep­ ing my word: but I hope mine of the 21". Octob'. will in some measure lessen my fault; and to be not guilty of the like for the future, I set down to write this on the immediate receipt of yours. I beg then first pardon for my neglect; and hope my request will carry some merit with it, when I assure you, it was not occasioned through idleness. I am from morning 'till evening shut up in the Palazzo Borghese, in working up those pictures, I in my last mentioned to you: I have just t~e after that to dine, when the Academy begins, and lasts 'till three. It is true, on holy days I go not to the Palace mention'd; but as M' Holt left me a commission to do some statues for him, the holy days are the only time I can spend in serving him. You are not ignorant, I presume, that my Father has thought proper to make an author of me, in publishing trifling Letters of mine &c. which has surpriz' d me much, as they were not even worthy of a friend's private perusal; and I dare say you laugh' d not a little, in seeing your friend Giacomo Russelli exhibit himself in pub­ lic, as Presidente perpetuo del Collegio Greco, as you formerly did him the honour to stile him in [9r] the Society. However, as my Father has usher'd me into the world as such, there is no help for it, and as he insists upon further particulars as to this place &c. I shall with your leave, the little time I have, do my best to serve him. Accordingly I shall send him, in a post or two, a translation I have made of Remarks upon a rare Cameo (bought by M' [Horatio] Walpole when here) representing the Ostracism of Athens, wrote by Venuti4 : an account of the Statues &c. at the Capitol, as adorn' d by the present Pope. Likewise an exact copy of the famous Greek inscription of Herodis Attici & Regilla conjugis, in the Villa Borghese, with remarks &c. 5 You would oblige me much, (as I can't possibly write home this post) if you wou'd be so kind as to send your servant to my brother the Bookseller, and acquaint him that I have receiv' d his letter, and that he shall have the accounts above-mentioned in two posts at farthest. I beg you'd excuse the freedom I take. There are lately arriv' d here three or four fresh English Painters; so that the number of us amounts to a dozen: emulation perhaps will make some of us good for something. And upon this occasion, I cannot but seriously reflect, how much I am indebted to You, Sir, for your kindness to me, who have put me upon a footing (as to circumstances) with the best of them; whereby I may follow my studies with cheerfulness and alacrity, to perfect the intent of your generosity. Hitherto I cannot accuse myself; since my return here, of 91 JASON M. KELLY having misspent any time contrary to this design; and I hope you have so good an opinion of my sincerity, as to believe me in what I say; and that I shall always esteem your pleasure and commands beyond any other advantage whatever. I called this morning on Monsr. Breton, and gave him your thanks, &c. he desires his humble service to you. I this post received a letter from Mr Uohn] Bouverie at Beachworth, [9v] so that I find, one must not credit any thing that is said here: for it was confidently reported, that he was come abroad again. When you see or write to Mr Townson, I beg to be kindly remember' d to him. I should be glad to know, whether you approve of the picture I have taken in hand; and desire you'd be so good as to mention any particular things, that wou'd be agreeable to your taste and judgment: and you may depend upon my utmost diligence to serve you; who am with the greatest sincerity ever, Dear Sir, Your most obliged humble Servant. ]'.Russel. Letter 2 Uames Russel, Rome, to Clementina Russel, 20 January 1748. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 3r-4v] To Miss Clementina Russel. Rome,Jan. 20. NS. 1747/8 Dear Clemmy, Perhaps the size of this letter may disoblige you, and the expence of it much more, as most of it is taken up with things, which do not directly relate to yourself: but yet I have too good opinion of your sense, to think you wou'd be offended at what I have here enclos'd or written, imagining that your curiosity extends beyond that which the work of the needle can occasion. The enclos'd is a drawing of the monument of that Great Personage, whose name you bear; so that I think I cou'd not send it to any person more proper than yoursel£6 On the back of it I have skecht out the tomb, in which her body lay, before it was remov'd into the um or sepulchre of the Monument; and below that I have skecht but (bad enough, as you see) the monument or tomb, in which lies her heart; which monument is plac' d on a pilaster of the church call' d di santi Apostoli. 7 So much for apology. And now I return to you, and your Poetical Epistle sent me, for which I return you many thanks for the kind wishes contain'd in it. I say not to flatter you, that it is wrote with much spirit; and cou'd I render you par pro pari, I willingly wou'd: but my Pegasus will not stir, neither by foul means, nor fair. The desire I have of seeing you and my Friends makes every year seem an age: but when I consider the extent and boundless limits of the art I follow, I may very properly say that Threescore summers, when they're gone. Will appear as short as one:8 that is, tho' a person has followed this business many years [3v] yet upon comparison of the infiniteness of it, he finds he knows nothing. I hope that your have followed your drawing; and I own I should be very glad to see something of yours, if you wou'd be so kind as to send it me. Here resided in Rome for some years past one Miss Gavine, who drew very prettily, especially in miniature; I believe she is now in London along with her Mother, to whom I gave a Letter for my Father: if you can find them out, I dare say, this young Lady's acquaintance will not be disagreeable to you. I have this great while intended to send You and my Sisters a fan or two; but really I have so much to do, that tho' I have begun some, I have not yet had time to finish them. Some months ago was sent off for England some pictures for Mr D [rake]. amongst which was one of mine, a Conversation peice; I shou' d be glad to know, if it is arriv' d safe: in it is the portrait of a most worthy Gentle­ man and my freind, now dead, much to my sorrow, as well as of others; if it is arrived, I shou'd be glad the Family shou' d see it; and desire Billy to take the trouble to do it over with the frost of an egg, or perhaps you 92 LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD d tand it better. I wonder I have not heard from my good freind Mr Massingberd; I wrote to un e~etters an age ago, I hope he is well, and shou'd be glad to know particulars, as to the picture he ·•. =~'d, as to the size ~fit: if you chance to see him, pray give him my respects, acquainting him, that >· u'd feign hear from him, and soon. . . . , . . . , WO h ving yet received a Letter from Betsy makes me imagme, that the things I wrote for are not yet set ~'f1l~~\r,f~o~ ;illy, that if I have not required too much of him already, I shou'd be glad he wou'd add an English · ·· ·· .. · •1 e 'th the Apocrypha in it, a Virgil, a Horace, and an Ovid Metamorphoses, Fastorum, and Epistles; all e ~the Elzivir [ 4r] edition, with a little fair paper, bound up at the end or each of them; for here they are '"" " 0be met with: I forgot to mention likewise an English knife, fork, and spoon, with a sheath, very useful -_ cflOttO . . -L"tl) carry about with me, and a peruke comb ma case; these are things, not to be had here for love or money, )~2;~ are vastly ne_cessary. I am afraid in sendi1:'g fo~ ~o many t~ings I sh~ be thoug~t to be very unreasonable ·.~~~)Ut'I hope to be m some measure excusable, smce it i~ so long sir:ce I rece~ved any thmg from home., .. In •i.~~me box I hope to have Letters from m.ost of the Family, .fro~ Kitty es~ecially, who has so long defer d wntmg; ·i~~~'bot tell her, it is never too late to do it, ~nd I s~all receive .it :astly kindly of her: from the D~ctor,. I c~mfess, ~f.;Jdon't deserve that favour; but .I sh~ wnte to him for certam m a post or two. I hope he and his family is well, .~~~~ settled to th~ir .ease and sansfacnon.,h . . . . . ;;~·~~t; 1 answered Billy s Letter on Dec. 30. which, I hope, is come safe to hand, m it bemg an exact Account of :;Ji';~tbe rarities in one side of the Capitol: I had not room to finish the whole, therefore I add the rest here, which ;·:if"'ffiDows '° pag. 19. lin. 22. where end these words, but are to be remov'd to the room below, as metion'd a?f~ - From this gallery &c.&c. &c. . • ";;"S'.:\ {as has been transcnbed.} ii~;Vt Thus I have sent an exact description of the statues &c. in the building of the right wing of the Capitol: a ·fZ·'ifescription of the other wing I shall send in my next, to make the whole compleat. The above Account ·2~.:0fthe Cameo of Mr [Horatio] Walpole; because sollicited so to do by the Author [Ridolfino Venuti], for some ·?;i;tifarcicular reasons; who is my very good freind, Antiquary to the Pope, and a very learned man: tho' I cannot <3'."~but think •sapport them, they go out immediately. In short there is not one bit of truth in it from the beginning to the /lfld; and what's worse, not so much as a shadow of the things found, [7r] excepting that as to the Silenus and ;'~~)4ercury, and these but very faintly. You may be assured, that the whole is an invention: for I have inform' d J;~i~elf well of it by the means of two Scotch Gentlemen, who came form Naples about a month since, viz . . 'j;;,f~uatt [William Rouett] and Dr Hope; who took a particular account of the rarities found at Herculaneum, _ {i':'itd which I find differ but very little from what I sent you, with a few other additions. The former Gentleman <'_:':phas'd the following rarities found in the said city, which he show'd me: a lacrymatorio or a phial to hold · ;; ~· , ... i a small patera; the end of a pipe or flute like to that of the German, of reddish wood, but hardned so by ",.f;·,·j: or time, that it seems to be of bone; an iron hinge, which opens and shuts like to those of the tea-chests; ,:~;~e small particles of salve, like to shining earth or lead, which Mr Ruatt scrap'd off from a Surgeon's case of ·~~en ts, very like the modem ones; a piece of a silken net; some grains of wheat, tum' d quite black; a small · '~':'.'f~;f!~e of bread very black; and a brazen pan, just like the English patty-pans; these were found in an antique :-·l- ;:,,"';'";; - e.Fryars of the church ofS. Lorenzo in Lucina in Campo Marzo, are now pulling down some old houses ,J'f'.~~ this church, in order to build others: by which means the famous obelisk, erected by Augustus in the , Ef~pus Martis, and which for so may years has been flung down, is discovered; and is to be taken out by order -~+.r~~e Pope: it is broke into three pieces, and is esteem' d the largest and longest that was erected in Rome: it ::,;,;·.~£to distinguish th~ hours of the day; ~ut more of .this I shall mention here:ttter, aft~r it .is taken out. · '.··,,,,.. e to be remember d to the whole Family, and begging your prayers and blessmg remam, Sir, Your very Son.JR. ;S .. 1 hope I shall have the satisfaction a little oftner of receiving Letters from home. All friends are well . . · · JUSt now receiv' d a Letter from Dr Monroe; pray my service to him, and acquaint him I shall execute .mmands as soon as possible. the end of the Letter, but not necessary to be transcribed} 95 "':"" ... JASON M. KELLY Letter 5 Uames Russel, Rome, to William Russel, 3 August 1748. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. ']V-8v] To Mr William Russel. Rome, Aug. 3. 1748 N.S. Dear Billy, I don't remember whether I am in your debt, or You in mine: but I think, if my memory does not fail me, I wrote to you Dec. 30. 1747. to Clemmy Jan. 21. 1747/8. to Betsy May, 18. to my Father April 6.'h and to the Doctor [Richard Russel] April 13th. and I have heard from none of the Family since. As for my part, I wont pretend to have more business than other people, yet I must say that I have as little time to spare as any one: however I do my utmost to please every body as much as I can; and to show my sincerity, I send you the enclos'd account, knowing your taste for things that are curious: the former account I sent in my Letter to the Doctor, which I hope is come safe to hand. The taking up of this obelisk has drew the attention of many people here, and no doubt has done the same in England: for which reason, I thought a relation of it wou' d not be improper, and a drawing11 or sketch of it absolutely necessary; in order to give you a better notion of it; which, tho' done in a hurry, and a rough manner, is very exact, I having taken it upon the spot the morning that [Nicola] Zabaglia begun to work. This obelisk, as [Pompeius] Ugonius mentions, was uncovered from the rubbish by order of Sixtus Quintus, but being thought too much ruin' d to be at the expence of taking it up, was again buried, and houses built on it; 'till this year, these houses being gone to ruin and pull' d down, the present Pope determined to have it remov' d: accordingly several architects propos' d doing it, but their demands as to the expences were thought extravagant; and at last one Signor Zabaglia, a carpenter, was fixt upon. This person is an old man of above 70, can neither write nor read; and yet by meer practice performs things beyond the most skilful architects: I shall give you two instances of his extraordinary capacity; for this of his taking up the obelisk I think is not so, tho' look'd upon here as such. 12 -About four or five years ago [1743], the cupola ofS. Peter's was gone so [Sr] much to ruin upon account of the cracks increasing, that it was thought proper to apply remedies; and accordingly five hoops ofiron was plac'd round the cupola, on the outside, to brace it and hold it together. These cracks were so great, that they pass'd quite thro' the body of the cupola, and were visible to the eye within the church, in one of which I cou'd lay three of my fingers: these cracks were above 50 in number, running and dispersing themselves about the cupola. To adjust these, a scaffolding was necessary; but to make one from the bottom of the church to reach to the top, wou'd not only have been vastly expensive, but vastly inconvenient, especially as the great altar stands just under the center of the cupola. To avoid these inconveniences, Zabaglia made a scaffolding, which had its base or foundation on the cornice of the church, which goes round where the cupola begins: on this cornice he laid out two beams, and on these beams run up the whole scaffolding within the cupola, concave wise, quite to the lantern, so that the upper part of it hung quite perpendicular; and what is very extraordinary, he made no holes in the walls to receive the ends of the timber, but the whole was so well connex'd and plac'd, that it was supported entirely by the two foremention' d beams as the base, and by two others which came down from the lantern: this scaffolding was at least I 50 foot high, and was mov' d about as was necessary. - About three years ago [1737], he cut out a picture ofDomenichino's13 , painted in fresco on the main wall ofS. Peter's, 40 foot high, and plac'd it entire wall and all (without moving a stone, or damaging the picture) in the church of the Carthusians [Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri] at Diocletian's baths. These are two instances of his ability amongst many of his doing; and he works for but 5 pauls a day, which is about half a crown English. You may acquaint my Father (to whom I beg to be respectfully remember' d) that in a month or so will be publish'd [8v] here a particular Account of Herculaneum &c. taken by the Marquis [Niccolo Marcello] Venuti, (brother to the Pope's antiquary [Ridolfino Venuti] here) by order of the King of Naples &c. as soon as it appears, I shall not fail giving him a relation of it. In the mean time desiring to be remember' d to all the Family, I remain Dear Billy's Affectionate & loving Brother].' Russel. ne, the ont ne: the the me i of llgh rhis but 1 it; v'd: .ant; ther two pon ruin )Ops reat, . e of !lves urch ?leat ling, ;: on .cave iary, ac'd, .own bout ter's, mrch )fhis . sh. , will :ello] soon ll the -_·_£ __ ·_·_-, .•.~::~'' -, =~~~~ . . T. : .. ·:_· .. ;_._:.t'·· .~ : r. .'··' -._, __ J ·l ·--~ LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Letter 6 (Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, Rome, [n.d.] August 1748 O.S. BL Add. MSS 41169, 9v-IIV] To Mr James Russel. Aug. 1748 . Dear Jemmy, Tho' this Letter had been def erred so long, yet even now I cannot find time to connect it in an epistolary manner; but am forced to write it by scraps, like some French Authors, who retail out unconnected Maxims and Reflections. I have consulted two or three Gentlemen upon the properest season for your journey to Naples, who tell me, that the latter end of October, or beginning of November, will be as good a time as any: against which, you shall be furnished with a viaticum. In your Letter to Clemmy of Jan. 20. NS. 1747. you insert an addition to your Account of the Curiosities in the right wing of the Capitol. Lapis Capponianus.14 -An um, on which [1or] 'is likewise a basso relieve, of the weight of a plummet, compass, a plummet, and a rule, &c.' This I don't understand. Writing so fast, and so small, you sometimes render it difficult to distinguish one letter from another, particularly ~ and .!:!· In that Epistle you promise a Description of the other Wing in your next, to make the whole compleat. In yours to me, of April 6. you sent a Continuation of the Account of the Churches at Florence, and desired to know where you left off in the preceding Account: the Church mentioned last was S.S Nunziata or Annunciata. As you say there are above 60 Churches, I apprehend, that to go through them all, in so particular a manner, tho' the subject be of use, as well as entertainment, to Painters and Connoisseurs, will seem tedious to the generality of readers. But every particular would be very proper for the Pocket Volume, which you design. You will judge the better what to do, when you shall have gone through what has been made public. - I must repeat, as necessary, some short Account of Loretto, Bologna, Ancona, and Ve;nice: and some Relations of diverting events, which may have lately happened, or at least some Translation of any short and pleasant story, whether real or feigned, which may have been lately published, either in prose or verse. -The Extraits de Letters d'un Franc;ois &c. which you inclosed to the Doctor [Richard Russel], came to my hands . Mr. [Edward] Holdsworth's Brother [Henry Holdsworth] is very uneasy at the long delay about the Box; which you are therefore desired to send away directly, consigned to [blank] at Leghorn, and directed, To the rev.d Mr Henry Holdsworth, to be left at Mr William Russel's Book-seller &c. [rnv] I waited upon Dr. Uohn] Monroe last week, who shewed me your Letter of July, in which you refer him to one (written to me just before) to see your draught of the Obelisk &c. Mr Uohn] Bouverie likewise sent me word by Mr Uoseph] Trapp Ur.] yesterday, that he had received a Letter from you, in which you mentioned having written lately to me. These Accounts gave me a good deal of uneasiness, for four or five days, 'til yours of Aug. 3. with the Drawing, directed to William came to my hand, after I had written most of the foregoing part of this Letter. . Tho' the Drawing came very opportunely, and pleased us very much, yet there seems to me to be a consid­ erable mistake in it. For I imagine, that it is the upper part of the Obelisk, which lyes nearest to the Palace, and · is represented as being lifted up by the machine; and yet the end towards that building is not drawn gradually lessening to an angle; and the other end towards the next broken piece is too big to be supposed to have been joined to it: if this be the case, I must get it rectified by the Engraver. Upon the whole, the Drawing is much commended by all who have seen it, being looked upon as very difficult to be executed . I think the publication of the Marquis Venuti's book15 may render your journey to Naples unnecessary. I wish, that it may not appear so soon as in a month; and that before it does you could get a sheet or two from the press, and send a Translation. You mention nothing of the size: if it be small, it may do very well to make up the Second Volume; but if of any considerable bulk, with copper plates, it will be most proper for it to make its appearance here by [ur] itself. Expedition in this affair is of the utmost consequence, lest some Book-seller here should get the start. I have at last bought most of the things you desired, and put them up in a box with others; of which you will see a Catalogue at the end of this Letter. The delay has been continued some what the longer, 'til we were 97 JASON M. KELLY sure, that hostilities had ceased in the Mediterranean. - Altieris Dictionary sells for two guineas, tho' I never heard that it had any great character: and as you understand French, Veneroni's, which is counted a very good one, and is not above a third part of that price, will be more useful in my opinion; and may, I imagine, be bought cheaper at Rome than here. - Andrea Pozzo's Perspective in Latin and Italian, printed at Rome in folio, is translated into English: but the Jesuits Perspective in French 3 Vol 4.'0 is thought the best, tho' onely one volume has been turned into our language. I know of no book on that subject, written by any English-man, which is very famous. Ditton's, which I send, has been well received. You remember, no doubt, the Two Beamonts [Henry and Richard], who boarded at M' Uohn] Hutton's. One of them died some time ago: the other, who has a large estate in Yorkshire, was in Town last week, and came to your Brother's shop. At his return, he designs to send the dimensions for a picture, which you are to draw, to be placed over a chimney- piece in one of his parlors. - The week before last, M' Matthias delivered your Letter to William; and asked several questions about some late Letters &c. but, as one or two of his Brothers have places [ 11v] under the Government, it was not thought proper to give any very particular answer. The Box, as it is designed at present, is to come by the Neptune, Capt. [Thomas] Gardener, consigned to Mess." [George] Jackson and Hart at Leghorn; but if any other ship shall sail sooner, it will be sent by that. It is concluded, from your ordering some particular books, that you are very· secure, that the box will not be searched very strictly. By the first post after the receipt of this, let us have some Answer or other; to which you shall have no reason to complain of our negligence. All are well, and are preparing Letters for the box. God preserve and bless you. A Beaver hat. A plaid with a lining. 1:18:0. Two Holland shirts. Four pair of st.ockings. Two razors. 0:6:6. Two pen-knives. 0:3:6. A four-piece knife. 0:5:0. A scraper. 0:2:0 A pair of spectacles 0:9:0. Six pencils. Books. Wright's Travels 2 Vol. in I.boards 4.'0 Ruins of Rome: a Poem. Patres Apostolici: 2 vol. 8.v0 calf. Trapp's Notes on the Gospels Jacob's Statute Law common- placed. for Mr W.[agstaffe] --- 5:1. Letter 7 Kennet's Roman Antiquities. Ditton's Perspective 2:0. Young Painter's Letters. 1" vol. Littleton's Observ. on S. Paul's conv. Serious Address to Lay-methodists. Collection of Declarations &c. --- of Dying Speeches &c. --- of Political Tracts. Dialogue bewixt an Old Whig & a Non-juror. Abomination of the Hoop-pettic. 7 Lond. Mag. fromJune to Dec. 1747. inclus. Liturgia Latina. 12.mo Duporti & Buchanani Psalmi. Vidae Opera: 2 vol. in I. Ovidii Opera: Mattaire. 3 Vol. 16 [fames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, London, 14 January 1748. BL Add. MSS 4n69, ff. 12r-13v] To the rev.a Mr Russel. Rome Jan. 14. 1748. On June 3dh. 1747 his Holiness the Pope [Benedict XIV] celebrated mass in his private chapel at his palace at Monte Cavallo, and confer'd the first Tonsura on [Henry Stuart] the D.[uke] ofY.[ork] There were present his Father Uarnes Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender]; the Cardinals [Domenico] Riviera, [Silvio] Valenti [Gonzaga], [Federico Marcello] Lante [Montefeltro Della Rovere], [Neri Maria] Corsini, and Girolamo LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD ~- d any other prelates, and nobility. This Prince that morning appear'd in a short habit, of an Abbe, ,, 'i: ~ O~· ~n X:tinued 'tilJuly 3. when his Holiness, in a secret consistory, after a learned and elegant speech, , .. - ' ~wbic~nded~~lar'd him Cardinal Deacon. the next day he rece.ived the c?ngratulati~ns ~fthe. Ca~dinal Deacon -~ : ".~· ~ced d llege and of the greatest part of the other Cardmals; and m the evenmg illurrunat1ons &c. were - W'che sacre co ' h - • '. c· th hout the city. On July 8.' he took the oath of the bulla on the altar in comu epistol:o<: per ·_ · : , :miide roug d afterwards was conducted by the first Cardinal Deacons (Alessandro Albani and Corsini) into ":' ~u:;;:f ~e public Consistory, where his H~liness, dress'd in his pontificals,. was seated on his _throne. The .. ; _the' bn his knees, first kiss' d his foot, an~ then his hand, and af~erwards was adrrut~ed to embrace him, and then . _D. 0 b ed all the Cardinals: after which, the Pope put on his head the cappucc10 of the Cappa, and then the .' ·~a7'~ pontifical hat, pronouncing the usual words in form. The D. address'd himself in these words. '-';,:~ .. Most Holy Father, _. My unchangeable and constant will of living and dying in our holy religion, the education, and great xample [I2v] of my Father, the memory (always present to me) of my most holy Mother, have made ,:'l;·. :e (laying aside all worldly regard) think of binding myself with a stronger chain in the service of the .,,,/ · Lord, in a state of greater perfection. Your Holiness scarce heard of my inclination, but have receiv' d it ,··:·: approv'd, and seconded it, with bowels of paternal love; and I have manifestly discovered, in the voice -.~i.~. of his Vicar, that of God himself Behold me then adom'd with the marks of a new profession and .· ,-.>. dignity, for to express to your Holiness th~ most tender sentiments of my most ~umble gratitude, join' d ~'.·:··:,·-:~ to an equal desire of your happy preservation; from whence the Church may enjoy for many and many .,~.. years, so great a Pastor, and I for a long time have before my eyes a living example, upon which to form the ecclesiastic life I now take upon me. , -;:He afterwards proceeded to the chapel Paolina, where he lay prostrate on two cushions, whilst Te Deum ,:::;';,~sung, and other orations &c. and returning from thence, at the door he embraced the Cardinals again. · }j} On July 25.'h by order of the Pope, the Roman Senate went in state to the Cardinal's palace: the Senators · · , - Sig. Gioare [sic, Giovanni] Andrea Curti, D. Antonio Colonna, and March. [ ese] Lortario Ottieri, with >Jig. Cesare Panimolla the Prior; the former, in the name of the Senate, complimented him thus. <''./:Solet urbs universa iis, qui sacra Purpura donantur, gratulari, quod novo et quidem maximo honore aucti, ·> ~ulatique, debitum suis virtutibus pr:o<:rnium consequantur. Verum hodiemo die no bis, Reique public:o<: /)pprime gratulandum est, cum, Te, serenissime et erninentissime. Princeps, [13r] divino consilio et beneficio <'·;,catdinalem videmus; qui clarissimo Regum sanguine procreatus, et omnium virtutum genere instructus, earn ~~ .. -t'![lt;nitatem, qua c:o<:teri exomantur, tuo nornine, tuaque gloria et amplitudine illustras. Senatus itaque popu­ ;~,·li)1e9ue Romanus, quern semel jam atque iterum, regali in hac aula, inter exultantis populi plausus, faustissimus ::';,'(;rtus tuus, et serenissimi principis Fratris tui, in magnam spem Catholica:: Ecclesi:o<: jura instaurandi auspicato '· ·.-... ' u.xerat; nunc tertio ad Te l:o<:tus accedit; ut suam in Te obervantiam sin larem solemniori, hac om a ;'_-_~: testetur; ublico ue officio firrnissimam benevolentiam tuam e etuo sibi aret, conciliet, ad'un at. Id .- bis et natale solum, uod Roma:: sortitus es, et ietatis ac reli · onis studium, bonarum ue artium co ia, ·•• · il:>us Te ab adolescentia vehementer incensum mirati sumus, ultro olliceri videntur. Hoc autem, cum / '::f!'°~m summis viris sit habitum, tum maxime regiis Principibus dignissimum, qui ob natur:o<: nobilitatem, atque t":,3;/i!folis _Prrestantiam, omnibus pr:o<:sidio esse, sibi proprium et peculiare semper existimarunt . . : ,-,i&J'.-o.which the Cardinal answered the following. · · adhuc retinet anti uam di tatem Senatus o ulus ue Romanus, E o in hac maxima uondam 'um urbe, et nunc Catholic:o<: Reli · onis domicilio at ue arce natus, earn in vobis lib enter a nosco. Libentius voluntatis et benevolenti:o<: in me vestr:o<: si nificationes exci io, uod me civem vestrum existimetis; rem olim i sis Re 'bus ra::claram. Utinam mihi atemi et re "i san inis17 merninisse detur, ubi ati animi VOS testimonium a me exhiberi contin at. 13v .e same evening was finish' d before his palace what they call here* La facciata Cardinalizia: it was the most ce~t, and of the best taste, as to the architecture, and the painting I ever saw of the kind; the architect one Sig. Clementi Orlandi, a Roman. 18 :C Ju~y 3 I. in a secret Consistory the Pope performed the function of shutting and opening the mouth of ·•·· • ar~al D of Y. He receiv' d the Anello Cardinalizio from the Pope, and had the church of S. Maria in com Campitelli assign'd him for his Cardinal's title; was made Protector of the Congregations of the 99 JASON M. KELLY Propaganda, Indice, Riti, Indulgenze, and Religuie; aB:4 on Aug. 5. took possession of his titular church S. Maria &c. and on the 27.th receiv'd from the Pope the four Ordines minores. On April l I. 1748. he read the Bulla in c::ena Domini at S. Peter's, as the youngest Cardinal Deacon, on Holy Thursday. On Aug. 18. he receiv'd the order of Sub-deacon; on the 25.'h that of Deacon; and on Sept. I. that of Priest, from the Pope. On the 4. th he said his first mass, in the private chapel of the palace [Palazzo Muti], where his Father and himself live, and gave the communion to his Father on that occasion. On the 16.'h he pass' d from the order of Cardinal Deacon to that of Cardinal Priest, retaining the same church of S. Maria in Portico, which upon this occasion, was converted from a Diaconal to a Presbyteral title. *This is a front made to a palace, upon a person's being made a Cardinal: it is compos'd of timber, and cloth, painted according to the judgment of the architect. For three nights successively, it is illuminated with abundance of wax torches, as likewise set off with a band of music. Letter 8 [James Russel, Rome, to Elisabeth Russel, I October 1748. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 14r-15v] To Miss Elisabeth Russel. Rome, Oct. I. N.S. 1748. Dear Betsy, I should think myself unpardonable, if I let slip this opportunity of sending you a line or two, and con­ gratulating you upon the happy return of M' [Dennis] Bond. How acceptable his Letter to me was, you may easily imagine, if you doubt not of my sincerity for your wellfare and happiness. By it, I find his generosity, good nature, and other excellent qualities, which you formerly mention'd, confirm'd; and really I cannot but count you the happiest of women in such a person. Fortune seldom fails to crown virtue, patience, and con­ stancy; both of you, I may with reason say, art examples of these: and it gives me the greatest pleasure to think, that I shall be so nearly related to two persons, who have mutually laid so good a foundation for their future happiness. That this may be so, will always be the prayer of your affectionate Brother; and I don't in the least doubt of it, as both your behaviours, in the time of your misfortunes, has been conducted with an harmony and judgment, beyond example. I say not this to flatter you; and if you thought so, I should be very sorry. I imagine, or at least hope so, that by this time you are married: for M' B. [and] assures me, that my wishes for your wellfare will have their desired effect. Pray, let me hear, on the immediate receipt of this how affairs go. You promis' d me in your last, that I shou' d not wait half so long for another Letter &c. but I find your memory is a little short like my own. [14v] M' Uohn] Bouverie, in a Letter to me, says, that my Father complains, that he does not hear from me too often. I wrote to my Father April 6.'h 1747, in answer to his of Feb. 12. to the Doctor April 13.th to Clemmy Jan. 2I." to You May 18.th to Billy Dec. 30.'h 1747· and Aug. 3. 1748. to none of which I have receiv'd an answer, except that of M' Bond; which he tells me he answered for you. I cannot but say I expected to hear from someone of the family, rather than be accus 'd of writing too seldom. When I have time, it is the greatest pleasure I take in writing to my friends: but my business requires such a constant application, that I am not always master of myself; as Betsy may guess by my manner of scrawling at present. In those Letters to the Doctor [Richard Russel], and Billy, I sent accounts of the famous Obelisk &c. togeth~r with a drawing, which I should be glad to know if they came safe. I wish I had time to send you some agreeable diverting subject, as you desire in your last: this place certainly abounds with matter of all sorts; but this I must defer 'till another opportunity. If I cou' d possibly have that happiness of being with worthy M' B. and my Dear Betsy, I'd entertain them the best I cou'd; but 'till that wish't for moment comes, I can only make myself happy with the thoughts of it. I have been for this year constantly taken up, (nay I may rather say kept close prisoner) in a palace belonging to the Prince Borghese, where I am copying a couple of pictures; one of them exceeding large, and so difficult, upon account of its excellence, and the place that it [ l 5r] is in, that I cannot describe to you, the vexation, the fatigue, the application, &c. that I have gone under: but as I had begun it, I was resolv' d to go through with it, & now it is nigh upon the finishing hand. IOO LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD If the box design' d for me is not yet sent off, I shall be much oblig' d to Billy, if he can put in the chief authentic relations, as to the affair that happened lately in England [i.e. the '45] &c. and of those that suffered &c. &c. &c. together with the stamps of the battles fought, &c. as I know they have been publish'd. I have seen in the Newspapers, that my Father has publish'd his Patres Apostolici; I hope he has not forgot a copy for Mr W.[agstaffe] if he shou'd send more than one, I believe I cou'd dispose of them. I have sent off Mr [Henry] Holdsworth's box, together with another for Mr Uohn] Monroe. In this latter box are two Vatican Terences19, and a little small box, and another parcel, for Mr Bouverie; two other parcels for different persons, which I desire may be taken out and delivered, as the directions import. There is likewise a little small box for my Father, with small reliques of antiquity, &c. likewise three small antique Intaglios, and a silver Medal of the present Pope, on the reverse the monument of the Queen20: if You'll accept of the Intaglios, and of the silver Medal, You'll oblige me much. They have not inform'd me as yet from Leghorn, by what ship they are sent; but as soon as I know, I shall take care to acquaint you. As the vintage approaches, every one is preparing to go into the country; and really we have had the [15v] longest run of fine weather I ever saw in this place. Mr. W. and other English are at Albano; if I can possibly spare a day or two, I shall take a ramble myself toward those delightful places, as Tivoli, Frescati, Albano, &c. which may occasion matter for a subsequent Letter, &c, &c. I beg to be remember'd to the whole Family, in a proper manner; hoping to hear from somebody soon. And, Dear Betsy, don't you forget me: I shall be vastly impatient, 'till I hear the match compleat with the man you love; to whom I desire you'd give my kind respects, and good wishes, in a particular manner. I am, Dear Betsy's most affectionate loving Brother James Russel. P.S. Pray inform me in your next what size the fashionable fans are in England, as to their heighth and weadth, &c. Letter 9 Uames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, 23 October 1748. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 17r-18v] To the rev.d Mr Russel. Rome Octob. 23. N.S. 1748. Honoured Sir, The day after I sent off a Letter to Betsy (which was Octob. 1." N.S.[)] I receiv'd yours bearing date Sept. 1. O.S. which indeed I had been in long expectation of; having wrote six letters to one or other of the family, without receiving an answer, which gave me much uneasiness, fearing least some of my letters had miscarried: therefore you may easily imagine what satisfaction your favour gave me in clearing these doubts. I hope you'll easily account for my always writing so fast, and so small; the one occasioned by the streightness of time, and the other to save postage and paper: however I shall take care to distinguish my letters a little better, to avoid future mistakes. I here send you enclos'd the remainder, and full account of the Capitol, except a few other antiquities, which for want of room I must defer 'till next letter: there is likewise the bill of lading of Mr [Henry] Holdsworth's box, which I consign'd to Messrs. [William] Aikman and [Thomas] Marshall; the expence and freight of which amount to half a guinea, which they have charg' d to Dr U ohn] Monroe; so that I desire Mr Holdsworth may be inform' d of this in order to repay Dr Monroe; the box likewise cost me five shillings in packing up, and sending to Leghorn. In a box, sent at the same time for D• Monroe, is a small box directed to you, in which are the following things, viz. an old antique ring, which I found at the burying-place of the Arruntii family; three intaglios in corniold; a silver medal of the of the Pope [Benedict XIV], on the reverse the monument [ I7V] of the Queen [Clementina Sobieska] erected in S. Peters; two antique lucernae or IOI -:j; ' JASON M. KELLY lamps, and some fragments of several things brought from Naples. The three intaglios, and the silver medal I . beg may be delivered to Betsy. At the end of the enclos'd you'll find an exact copy of every letter of that famous , inscription of the Colonna Rostrata; which exactness I thought necessary in case you had a mind to have it engrav'd; which indeed has been my intention, ifl cou'd have found time.21 From the accounts I have already sent, and by the present, you may easily guess what attention and time is requir' d in examining, writing, and revising things of this sort, particularly inscriptions; for the Italian books are not to be trusted to, being often times erroneous, and in many things wanting, and in others as superfluous. What is remaining of the antique inscription of the Colonna Rostrata, are those words in black, those in red are them supplied by Petrus Ciaoconius, in his Works 8.v• printed at Rome in' 1608. To this I have added another inscription, which for want ofroom cannot be explain'd; but shall be in a subsequent letter, when I am inform'd, that this is arriv'd safe. Your observation I think very just, as to the account of the churches of Florence, and cannot be but tedious, and will suit best for a pocket volume &c. which however I intend shou'd be as concise as possible: in the mean time I shall not fail sending you some pleasant story &c. when any such thing happens, or is publish' d; tho' you must know that the liberty of the· press is much restrain' d here as to those sort of things. The small accounts I have taken of [ l Sr] Loretto, Bologna, &c. shall likewise be sent, according as time permits. Abbe [Ridolfino] Venuti informs me, that his brother's [Niccolo Marcello Venuti] book about Herculanum is printed, but not yet publish' d, as soon as it is he has promis' d me to let me have one of the first, and you may depend upon my making the best use of it, expedition, as you observe, in this affair being of the utmost con­ sequence: he tells me it consists of about 200 pages 4. '0 but as Italian authors are generally prolix, no doubt it may be reduc'd to much less. The drawing of the Obelisk sent you, tho' taken in a hurry, was done with as much exactness as my eye wou'd permit; not having time to put it into perspective. What may induce you to think that I have made a mistake may be this, That perhaps I have not sufficiently distinguish'd the bed of timber from the upper part; of the obelisk; and the cross beams of the machine may likewise render the grada­ tion of the obelisk into an angle a little obscure. As to the end towards the next broken piece being too big &c. to bejoin'd to it, is no objection, because all the pieces of the obelisk (and particularly this) are so battered and defaced, that they have not now the form of an obelisk, except that side of them, which lay fl.at on the ground, and by that means was secur'd from the injuries of time, and barbarous hands: however an engraver will not do amiss to rectify it, and render it more distinct to the eye; and as I have sent you the measure of the whole obelisk, he may reduce it and manage it accordingly. They have now finish'd removing the foundation on which this obelisk stood. Pliny, as I quoted to you in a former Letter, says that the foundation was as deep, as the obelisk was high: [18v] in this I know not how to give credit to him, no more than I do as to the height of the obelisk; for they have only found stones, to about 7 feet deeper than the lowest pedestal of the obelisk, : .. viz. two large pieces of Grecian marble, link' d together with iron, II feet square, and two feet 9 inches deep ' or thick (upon which the lowest pedestal stood); under this were placed two sets or orders of stones call'd .. Trevertina, about two feet thick each; so, as I said before, these reckon' d together make but 7 feet; without below these, the foundation may run deeper, compos' d of smaller stones &c. but this I cou' d not observe, upon account of the continual fl.ow of water running in. Letter IO [Revd Richard Russel, Paris, to James Russel, 4 November 1748. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 15v-16v] To Mr James Russel. Paris Oct. 24. O.S. Nov. 4 N.S. 1748 Dear Jemmy, By a favour, which a Gentleman offered, and I could not refuse, I have been four days at this place; and have taken hold of the first opportunity of writing to you from hence. I left London last wednesday sen-night, Oct. 12. the day after which, William was to take care, that the box, designed so long for you, should be put · on board the Neptune, Capt. Tho. Gairdner Commander; who, after several delays, appointed to sail the .·• 102 LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD latter end of that week. I gave you some account of the things contained in it, in my last of August: to which, I suppose, there must now be an Answer [16r] from you received in London. Two pairs of shoes were added before I left that place; and some other things, of which William, no doubt, will send a Catalogue. The Patres Apostolici I desire Mr. [Thomas] W.[agstaffe] to accept, with my best respects. The hat, which is of the best beaver, I am told, will be worth 50s or 3£. at Rome: on which account, you may perhaps think it too good to wear yourself, and may dispose of it to considerable advantage. Immediately after this comes to your hands, I imagine it may be proper for you to write to Messrs. Jackson and Hart, to desire them to receive and forward the box; since it was directed to You, and consigned to Them, according to your orders. We were told indeed by some, that it was necessary to have given them advice of it; but as your orders were positive, without mentioning any occasion for previous advice, we ventured to follow them. After my return, on which I hope to set out about a month hence, I shall begin the reprinting of the Book. 22 In the reading of which, if you meet with any considerable mistakes, your corrections must be hastened, together with your Additions; as I mentioned in my last. I design to get the Monument, and the Machine ingraven while I am here.23 I should be glad of a good picture of the [Henry] Cardinal [York], with that which you got ingraved of the Father Uames Francis Edward Stuart]: both which I think might be conveyed to some person here, whom I may mention in my next. An account of the ceremonies at the making of the former a Cardinal, and a Priest, and of his officiating as such the first time, would be very acceptable: not that I expect any thing of this kind in your Answer [16v] to this, because That must be dispatched directly, otherwise it cannot reach me in this place. We shall set out for Versailles in a day or two, and afterwards for Fontainbleau; where there will be a very brilliant court, on several accounts. I have had the pleasure of seeing the Person [Charles Edward Stuart] several times, whom all the world the more admire, the more they see him: but the pleasure was interrupted by too many serious reflections to yield any extasy; however, it will be the more rational and lasting for that, 'till I come to say in earnest, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. The Gentleman, who got you more credit than I desired at Marseilles, I saw likewise walking yesterday in the Thuilleries, but I did not think proper to speak to him there: he looks as well, or rather better, than when I saw him last in England. Pray, let me have the names of the English Gentlemen, who are either at court, or in the city. They seem as ignorant here at present, whither the Young Heroe is to retire, as they are in England.24 Above all things mind the Book about Herculaneum: for upon that will chiefly depend the success of the second edition. 25 If you think it necessary to go to Naples for that purpose, I will send the viaticum promised. --- I expect to find Betsy married at my return; but William has too matrimonial a countenance already to venture to look matrimony in the face. I hope you have already dispatched, or will soon dispatch Mr [Henry] Holdsworth's box. God preserve you. Letter II [James Russel, Rome, to William Russel, 17 December 1748. BL Add. MSS 41I69, ff. 21r-21v] To M' William Russel. Rome, Dec. 17. 1748. Dear Billy, I have just reciev'd your favour of Nov. 7. with the inclos'd in it, which gave me much pleasure in hearing from that Gentleman, after so long a time. I beg you'd acknowledge in my name, when opportunity offers, the favour he has done me, giving him my most humble and sincere respects. As for yourself, you have no occasion to make excuses, I desiring nothing more than that a great run of business shou' d be a motive of not having time to write to me; and your good intentions I shall always esteem as facts. I have but very little time at pres­ ent, therefore of course must be short. I have receiv'd one Letter from my Father at Paris, dated Nov. 4.th to which I answered Nov. 26. I enclos'd in it the First Part of this Account of Herculaneum; and on Dec. 3. sent him more of it, directed to him at your house; and here you have the remainder. I have reduc' d it to as small a compass as possible; the Italian pamphlet or book contains 146 pages in quarto.26 There is since come into my hands another [21v] pamphlet about this city, publish'd at Florence, by Francesco Gori27 : the little I have read 103 ·~:---=-~-~-~-~----- ' JASON M. KELLY of it seems to me not to differ much (as to rarities &c. found) from the forewritten I have sent you; but in case there is any thing extraordinary, I shall take notice of it. I am sorry that you did not put in the box three or four sets of my Father's Patres Apostolici, I having a demand for them here; and in particular for one set for a Gentleman of my acquaintance, who desires it by all means: therefore pray send them immediately, together with Anacreon and Duport and another set of the Letters &c. Altieri's Dictionary will be of infinite service.28 I have not time at present to add any thing else, but my love and duty as usual, and to assure you, that I am Yours most affectionately J.R. N.B. This Letter, or rather Letters, come to you in such a manner, that you ought to pay no more for the postage, than from Paris to London &c. &c Letter 12 Games Russel, Rome, to Dennis Bond, 2 April 1749. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 18v-19v] To Mr. Dennis Bond. Rome Apr. 2.d 1749. N.S. Dear Sir, I hope that you'll have the charity for me to think, that my not acknowledging the receipt of your kind favour ofDec.br 8.'h sooner, proceeded from no other motive, but that which a continual series of business of one sort or other has given rise to. I have long'd much to send you tokens of my friendship, in sincerely con­ gratulating {you} upon your late happiness: the news of which, as confim' d by your hands, gave me a pleasure beyond expression; which you may believe free from flattery, as it comes form one, who has the greatest esteem and affection for the best of sisters [Elizabeth Bond, nee Russel], and whose happiness he has all along wish'd for, the reality of which he has now the satisfaction to hear made good in you. Pray, present her my kind [r9r] love and wishes, and acquaint her that I long to have a line from her; which, if it is not before the box design' d for me arrives, will much trouble me; for I can hear no tidings of the box, tho' promis'd and shipt off so long ago. As for news, this place is very dead at present, it being the Lent season, in which all good Christians mind their devotions more than any thing else, especially those who committed excesses in time of Carneval: whether the Romans are sincere and true penitents does not belong to me to judge; but an external appearance of it here is universal. The Young [Henry] Cardinal [York] here (the Chevalier's Uames Francis Edward Stuart] son) lives up very strict to his profession, being mightily devout, and constant to the rules of the Church. Not long since he perform'd the office of christening an English Jew, and afterwards married him &c. To enter into the state of salvation and matrimony both the same day happens to few: as for my part, tho' I am so old an inhab­ itant of this place, I have enter' d into neither, according to the rights { [ri]tes} and laws here; which seem to me so contrary to rhime and reason, that I am afraid, in spight of my teeth, I must trudge on in the melancholy path of a fusty Batchelor. I hope you'll excuse the liberty I take, in filling up the remainder of this paper with some lines to my Father, which I beg you'd be so good as to send him. In my next I hope to make you amends for this short epistle; at least shall do my endeavours: in the mean time wishing you and my Dear Sister all health and happiness, I remain Yours most affectionately ].'Russel. [ r9v] P.S. Pray, inform my Father, that one of the basso relievos on the tomb of Alexander Severus and Julia Marnm::ea in the Capitol (an account of which I formerly sent him) represents the taking ofBriseis from Achilles, and not the Peace &c. made betwixt the Sabines and Romans: so that the other basso relieve, which represents Priam begging the body of Hector, very well agrees with this. Upon a closer examination yesterday I found this out; and thought it not improper that this mistake shou'd be rectified. I hope to hear from some of the Family soon, and you'll be so kind as to favour me with a line, when convenient. 104 .se or : a er 28 1e 1d of d n h y _e LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Letter 13 Uarnes Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, c. April 1749· BL Add. MSS 4n69, ff. l9v-2rr] {The following Letter came with the preceding.} Honour'd Sir, By a Letter from my Freind Mr. (Francis Burrell] M.(assingberd] bearing date Dec. 29. O.S. I am inform'd, that my Letters ofDec. 3. and Dec. 17.'h are come to hand; but that That which I wrote to you at Paris, bear­ ing date Nov. 26.'h is still there. I shall be much uneasy, 'till I hear that you have receiv'd it, because it contains the remainder account of Herculaneum, and other things, which, for some reasons, I shou' d have been glad you had met with at Paris {rather} than elsewhere. I wrote to Billy on Jan. 14.'h A young Scotch-man has brought here the Letters from a Young Painter &c. so that I have had a sight of them. I am truly sensible of the favour you have done me in touching them up, in such a manner, as has made them so [20r] acceptable to the public; tho' at the same time I cannot help expressing my concern at some things being publish'd, viz. the jokes upon the papists &c. as likewise the Letter about the painters &c. as they are things tending to promote ill will; without any visible advantage. The dissensions and animosities amongst the latter have been very excessive, and I myself have suffered by them very unjustly &c. but time and experience seem'd to have opened the eyes of some of them, and made them a little wiser. The misunderstanding, that was betwixt me and two other persons, happened some years ago; and I was in hopes every thing was buried in oblivion: but the publishing of that Letter has been like stirring up the ashes of a fire, which I thought extinguish'd. Not but the two persons richly deserve every thing there said of them as to their usage of me: but the tenour and stile of that Letter seems such, that some persons, who were my very good freinds, have taken to themselves the characters there set down and as I have been oblig'd to assure them of their mistake, so likewise have I been oblig'd to declare my ignorance of the intentions of any such Letter's being to be publish'd. There are now here of English and Scotch, painters and sculptors, to the number of sixteen, and there dwells now the greatest harmony amongst them, they having set up an Academy amongst themselves. Amongst them are several worthy and ingenious persons; and I shou'd be sorry, that the afore-mention'd Letter shou'd be prejudicial to any of them, as they have hinted to me: therefore, if a second edition shou' d be [ 2ov] made of the book, I think it wou' cl be much better to leave that Letter out; for what may be proper and just at one point of time may not agree with another season. I cou' d say much more upon this affair &c. but for want of room must defer it 'till another opportunity. I hope my Mother is quite recovered from her indisposition; whose blessing I beg, as likewise yours, who am Your very dutiful affectionate Son]. R. Pag. 36.l.7. - pieces of Porphyry, read Granite - P. 37.1.10. N.B. The churches are not built as to the outside of Italian marble, but of a stone call' d Travertino; the insides are indeed in general laid all over with the finest marble, as likewise supported with pillars, some of entire marble, and others with pillars only inlaid with marble - Lin.21. With silver images as big as the life, read, with silver busts as big, and some much bigger than the life; the only entire silver image I ever saw being that ofS. Ignatius, at the famous altar in the church of the Jesuites, which statue I take to be three times bigger than the life - P.40.l.1r. il villegiare, read, La villeggia­ ~ - P.75.1.r. N.B. Painting and drawing ought to be attributed to the Chevalier's eldest Son - P.175.l.!4. dropt down dead while they are at work &c. this very often happens, but it is occasion'd by the excessive heat of the sun beating on them, but not from the infection by opening the ground &c. - P.198.1.24. Corinthian pillars fifteen feet high. N.B. these pillars are at least thirty feet high. P.S. I don't remember, whether in my Letter of Jan. 14.'h to Billy, I mention'd the following particular, which is, that you are desir'd from the part of Mr. [Thomas] W.(agstaffe] to go to Mr [2rr] [George Bubb] Doddington's, treasurer of the navy, in Pall Mall, to take up a small box of medals, and deliver them to Dr (Richard] Rawlinson. The Lady that brings them is Miss [Mary] Beyne, Mr Doddington's sister, to whom I delivered the said box, and to whom you are desir'd to give Mr W.'s respects and thanks, together with mine for the trouble taken &c. 105 JASON M. KELLY Letter 14 [Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, Rome, early May 1749· BL Add. MSS 4u69, ff. 72r-72v] I return you my hearty thanks for the small box of Antiquities. The silver Medal and the 4 Intaglias (there being a small one which you did not mention) are delivered to Mrs [Elizabeth] Bond: were they all for her? There came besides, a Fan in a tin-case, a roll of Drawings wrapt up in some notes of Music, 6 pair of mens white gloves, and two pair of thread-stockings, without any direction. One Mr [Samuel] Birt a Book-seller desires you to present his service to Mr [Thomas] Patch, if you know him, who came from Exeter; and to let him know, that he should be very glad to hear from him. He desires likewise· to know the price of the Vatican Virgil, and whether any more volumes of Bianchini's Vindici~ Scripturarum be published. Dr [Richard] Rawlinson called here this afternoon, and told me, that there was room in a box, which he was sending to Mr [Thomas] W.[agstaffe] for a small parcel ofbooks, but they must be sent immediately: upon which I dispatched four setts of my Patres Apostolici lettered, which are sold here for 14':6.d a sett. -- ­ Altieri's Dictionary is not to be had; but it is reprinting, and will be published next winter. Mr Uohn] Bouverie intends to set out for France in a week or fortnight, in order to be at the Jubilee in time; and Mr Uames] Dawkins and Mr [Rowland] Holt will follow soon after. Mr [George] Pitt [later, Baron Rivers] and his lady [Penelope, nee Atkins] &c. are likewise going abroad for some time. I hope to get leave to put up a few books &c. for you in some of their baggage. [ 72v] Mr [Dennis] Bond has hired a house on Stoke-green, about four miles from Windsor, where one Mr Brewster lived formerly, and whither you once walked along with me. He was here to-day, and sends his compliments, as do all the family. Mrs [Elizabeth] Bond will write in a week or two. Mr [William] Drake is well, and desires to be remembered to you; as does Mr [Francis Burrell] Massin[g]berd, but complains of not hearing from you. We print I oo large paper; which if we can get subscribed off, we shall send you a bill. Pray give me humble service to Mr W. Your Mother joins her blessing with mine. Letter 15 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, II May 1749· BL Add. MSS 4u69, ff. 21v-23r] To Mr James Russel. London May 11. 1749. Dear Jemmy The chief occasion, among several others, of my delay in writeing to you was my weekly, and almost dayly expectation of receiving your Letter, which was directed to me at Paris. It was sent from thence by my order to a Wine-merchant at Boulogne, who has not yet found an opportunity [22r] of conveying it safe to me. So that I am afraid you must have the trouble of transcribing again the first four pages of the Marquis [Niccolo Marcello] Venuti's Account of Herculaneum. The copy which I have begins at pag. 5. The city Herculanum was scituated &c. - At Paris I met with a very pretty Account just published intitled Memoire sur la ville souter­ raine decouverte au pied du mont Vesuve, consisting of 51 pages in 8.v029 It is said to have been done sous les yeux de M. [Paul-Franc;ois de Galucci] le Marquis de L'Hospital, Ambassadeur extraordinaire aupres du Roy des deux Siciles; and that M. [Guillame-Marie] Darthenay son Secretaire, qui est presentement charge des affaires de France a Naples, l'a redige clans la forme ou il est aujourdhui. At the end is promised a continuation, which I shall use my utmost endeavours to procure; imagining, that by adding some Notes from this to Venuti's Relation, I shall be able to present the Reader with a compleat Account, which I intend to reserve for the latter end of the Second Volume. The First is reprinted; so that the alterations in yours to Mr Bond of Ap. 2. came too late to be inserted in the body of the book, and must therefore be added as Errata. I have left out four pages of the Letter relating to the Painters: to whom you may very justly excuse yourself for what is past, by laying the blame upon me, who from the hints you had given me, exspatiated in such a manner as you did not approve. This being the truth, I would have you declare it; and for so doing produce this commission under my hand. There are several [ 22v] things besides, which I should not have published, had I not depended upon your return before this; and I was 106 ·e :? lS te n i] 1' IS vv 1' IS IS Jt ty ly ~r •O . 0 n r- es ~ es 1, :o re m :o tO '.1, v] ~~~ ~~ _.,:_ .'r :::;-;; ~~.: }- LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD indeed in hopes, that they would have contributed to the hastening of it. I made the omission solely in compli­ ance with your importunity; for I really think the XXXVI'h one of the best Letters in the whole collection. The Second Volume will go to the press next monday; on which account I must desire you to dispatch an answer to this in a day or two after the receipt. I shall begin the volume with the additional account of the churches in Florence, and then proceed with the statues &c. in the Capitol. There are some words which I cannot make out, in the Account of the left wing: for instance, in the second page, Dona tene currum [blank] in urbe decus. The word seems plainly to be _Epes. A little lower, I cannot tell, whether it be belli manibus or ;anubiis: if the latter e or ex seems to be wanting. In yours of Octob. 23. you promised to send the small Accounts you had taken of Loretto, Bologna, &c. and likewise an explanation of the inscription sent with that of the Colonna Rostrata. You add, that you shall not fail sending some pleasant story &c. when any such things happens, or is publish' d. Somewhat of this kind will be necessary to intermix with so many Antiquities: it may be either a Novel, or a true History, and there need be no [23r) objection as to the time. In a Letter to William Dec. r7.'h you mention a pamphlet concerning Herculanum, published at Florenece by Francesco Gori; and promise to send me any thing extraor­ dinary which may be contained in it. In another to him Jan. r4. to the Account of the ceremonies at creating the Duke [Henry Stuart, Duke ofY ork] a Cardinal, you have added The rest of the palaces at Bologna: from whence I inferr, that you had sent the beginning of your Account of them, and perhaps of Loretto &c. in yours of Nov. 26. directed to me at Paris. Letter r6 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, Rome, 8 and rs June 1749. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 23r-25r] To M' James Russel LondonJune 8. 1749. Dear Jemmy, I wrote to you the I I. th oflast month, and begin now to compute the time when I may expect your Answer. To my great satisfaction, I yesterday received part of the paquet, of the want of which I complained in my last: it consisted of two sheets ofliterature, with out any Letter. Pray, let me know, whether there are any cuts in the Marq. de Venuti's book, and send me the title in Italian.30 I should be likewise glad to be informed, whether there is any cut of the place where the descent is into Herculaneum, or of any of the curiosities found there; any of which would be very acceptable, and of which I hope you will make a collection, and they may happen to come out: even a small map of the coast, showing the situation [ 23v] of a11 the towns and villages near to Portici, would be very proper for the new edition. The Second Volume went to the press on tuesday the 30.'h of last month; and therefore I must desire you to be very expeditious in your dispatches hither . Where Inscriptions are in words abbreviated, you should not have written them at length; as in those on the Colonna Milliaria in the left wing of the Capitol; where you have put Vespasianus, and other words at length, which I find abbreviated in Gruter31 : neither should they have been put in Italic, nor with ct !r: .er to nd ett he as gs, Led tell l ,I !I, __ · . ·• 11 'I LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD William he will find in a letter; no such letter ever came to his hands, or mine. Mr Quick, who has called several times, and complained of your delays, was unluckily out of town, when the boxes came; and is not yet returned. The Doctor brought hither several prints &c. for Mr Quick, which came in his box; and took away several which came in William's, making his own collection compleat according to the Catalogue in you letter to him, which he shewed us. When Mr Quick has been here, and taken what belong to him, we shall be able to give you a more satisfactory account: in the mean time, we cannot but let you know, that this seems to us a wild way of doing business. The things, which you commissioned Mr Ventris to procure you, should have been shipped for Leghorn two months ago: but we were disappointed by a person, a near relation of one of our next neighbours, belong­ ing to the Royal George, which he told us would sail in a little time; and promised to take care of the safe delivery of them. But he has layed aside all thoughts of his voyage to Leg-horn; and having met with a young Widow, is suddenly embarqued with her for Cape-horn. Under this disappointment, we shall be forced to trust the box with an unknown Captain, who is obliged to depart before the end of the month. Mr Uames] Dawkins has been here about three months, and intends [54v] to set out for Paris in a few days. Mr [Robert] Wood, who came with him, went to Dublin a month ago, and is expected back in six weeks more . He desired me to present his compliments, and to let you know, that he wrote both to Dr. Uames] Irwyn and you from Malta; and hopes that the commissions sent from thence will be punctually executed. Mr Uohn] Hervey, who married Mr Bouverie's Sister [Anne], and is his executor, being informed by Mr Dawkins, that a statue of Apollo was left by Mr Bouverie in your custody, desires you to get it packed up very safely, and to send it hither the first opportunity, directed To John Hervey Esqr in Leicester-fields London. He is one of the Welch Judges, and will no doubt do you justice in paying all charges, according to his promise to me. With this statue you may convey to us some curious books, pamphlets, pictures, drawings, prints, &c. I have had some thoughts of putting Clemmy into a way of selling the three last. I wish you had mentioned how many of the Patres and Letters you would have us send, and how bound. Your Aunt Franckwell was married to Mr [Thomas] Barton rector of Warbleton about Lady-tide; a great match for her. Mr Buck died the week before last. Your old friend John Huggonson has been lately seized by an evil Spirit or dark angel, and shut up the third time in an inchanted castle. The News informs us of fresh discoveries at Herculaneum. We all at present pretty well, and send our blessing, love, and service. Letter 40 Uames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, 30 November 1751. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 55r-56r] To the rev.cl Mr Russel. Rome, Nov. 30.1751. Honoured Sir, Your letter of Octob. 24. is just come to hand, and to which I give an immediate answer. Tho' I am not justifiable in all the complaints exhibited against me, yet I believe I am in the greatest part. All I wish is, that I cou' d clear myself of my Freind Mr Massingberd's complaints, as easily as I can from the rest: his, I confess, are of such a nature, that my very excuse (which has been want of time) wou' d serve only to augment his complaint, by having prefer' d others rather than serving him. I have been under the same daily expectation of hearing from you, as you have been from me: for according to my promise in my letter to William of July I 5P3-l'h. I sent you some further account of the Jubilee &c. two posts after; the r{oughluff account of which I here send inclos'd, as I find the fair one has not reach'd you; which has given me the greater mortification, as I had taken no small pains in collecting such an intolerable dry subject from the Weekly Diary [Diario Ordinario] that was publish'd the whole Jubilee year, and which cost me some money to procure. I was at the expense likewise to purchase two medals, which have been struck upon account of the Jubilee year; from which I made two drawings, which I enclos'd with the foremention'd. I know not how to account for the mischance that has occasion'd your not receiving them; but this I know, that I experienc' d many unaccountable unforeseen incidents, that have very unjustly slackened both my reputation I3I JASON M. KELLY and fortune; instances of which tho' I have hitherto kept myself, yet I find it will be necessary to mention some of them in my own justification. The [55v] confusion that has happened in the things sent for Mr Uohn] Quick, and Mr Uohn] Monro, will for the future make me avoid sending things by the hands of friends. I packt up their prints and drawings with the greatest care in separate parcels, and on each wrote their names in large letters; and how they cou' d be rnixt together to me is extremely unaccountable. You don't mention a packet ofletters sent by the same hand, directed to William; in which packet there was a letter for each of the family, and one for Mr Quick, which I beg'd Willy wou'd be so good as to deliver with his own hand, so that I sup­ pose the said packet has miscarried likewise. Mr [Rowland] Holt, on his departure from hence, paid me very generously as an Antiquarian, but never mentioned any thing to me as to the engraving of the monu­ ment inscnbed to him; he likewise paid me before hand for the drawing of several statues, many of which I have finish'd. M' Quick's complaints of my delays I cannot but think unjust; since neither the drawings, nor the sulfers were to be made by me; all that I cou'd do in this affair was to hurry those that he employ'd; and what trouble I have had, and fruitless visits I have made for that end, in regiiard to his sulfers, many persons of worth can testify. The statue of Apollo, which you mention, was not left in my custody by M' Uohn] Bouverie; it was out of meer regiiard to that most worthy Gentleman, that I recovered a thing which he knew nothing 0£ For this statue, thro' the negligence of [Mark] Parker the Antiquarian, had lain in the hands of the carpenter, who made the case for it, several years for non payment for the expence of the case. When Parker was banish' d Rame, the carpenter was for selling the statue, in order to dis{reim)burse himself, upon which I paid him, and [56r] took the statue into my care, in order to deliver it M' Bouverie on his return hither: but death preventing what I most earnestly wish'd for, which was to see that Gentleman again, I mention'd the affair to M' [Richard] Phelps, who ordered me to send the statue to Leghorn on his account, where it is at present. I have since read the particulars of your letter in relation to this affair to M' Phelps, and he desired me to tell you, that he hop'd you wou'd be so good as to acquaint John Hervey Esq in his name, that he will take particular care to have the statue transmitted to him, as his first intentions were to{2l do{3l so{ll. There has been lately a new eruption of mount Vesuvius, particulars of which I have not been able to get, but I here forward you a copy of a drawing of the eruption, as taken by one Pascale de Simone an engineer on the spot. I had the original drawing but a few moments in my hands, so that I was forced to be very expeditious; yet however I believe you may make it out, and I fancy it is pretty exact; you'll find that this is pretty nigh the back view of that which is engrav' d in the book of Letters. This drawing, which fell into my hands unexpectedly, wa{ 0 lnt give me time to add other particulars in this letter; only that my present circumstances require some remittance of money: and as, ifI remember right, you promis'd such a thing in one of your letters, above a year since; I hope you'll pardon me for putting you in mind of it. Begging your blessing, and your acceptance of my love, and duty &c. I remain &c. &c. P.S. Finding the drawing of mount Vesuvius to be too thick to put in this letter, I have enclos'd it in a cover directed to William. Letter 41 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, 9 January 1751/52. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 57r-58r] To M' James Russel. LondonJan. 9.175!. Dear Jemmy, In settling the account with your Friend Massingberd, you will not find yourself so much in his debt, as you may imagine; he having lately acted, or rather not acted, towards you, as you have towards him. The box, so long designed for you, was delivered to him above six weeks ago, who had undertaken to send it away by the first ship bound for Leghorn: but upon my inquiring of him a few days ago, when she sailed, he owned, that multiplicity of business, want ohime, &c. had hindered him from performing his promise. Upon this, I took the box into my own custody, and after much trouble, saw it safe on board, the 7. •h instant of the Prince 132 t e :t ', d of us :le :ie )k tat ·d] ad >'d .he ;et, on us; the :his IOU Lin .n a you IC, SO r the that took :ince LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Edward, Capt. Dawson; who, having taken in all his cargo, was to set sail in a day or two. It is directed To Messieurs [George] Jackson and Hart, merchants at Leghorn, Mr James Russel at Rome; and is covered with a strong wrapper, marked LR. N. 0 I. All the rest of the cargo is consigned to Mr [Thomas] Marshall merchant there: so that upon receit of this, it will be proper, I. imagine, to give Messieurs Jackson, &c. advice of this. Mr Hart, I am told, has a house in Hatton-garden, where I design to leave one of the bills oflading, to be sent to Leghorn; the Captain having taken the other. Both your letter to me dated Nov. 30. and the drawing directed to William, came safe to our hands the same day being Dec. I 1. charged 5.' each. Upon application at the Post-office about the latter I got 1':3d. repay'd me, it not weighing an ounce. But, as to the former, I said nothing; having been informed, that each distinct piece of paper might have been charged r'; and then the whole would have come to 7.' there being six differ­ ent pieces, besides the cover. [57V] In my last, I forgot to acknowledge the receit of the paquet of Letters to each of the fan:iily that was brought by Mr [Edward] Ventris; and to assure you, that the letter to Mr Uohn] Quicke, was delivered according to your order. I gave a copy of what you wrote in relation to him, to a friend of his one Mr Graves of the Tem­ ple, to be communicated to him in Devonshire, where he has a seat, and has been for some time. I delivered to that gentleman, by Mr Quicke's order, Ameti's map of the Campania of Rome in eight sheets, otherwise called Il Lazio and IL Patrimonio di S. Pietro; a map of the course of the Po in four; and likewise five Prints, viz. Romulo., S. Girolamo, S. Paolo, Il sacrificio di Noe, and S. Romoaldo. Nolli's Pianta di Roma, and the Drawings for Mr Quicke, together with the Pastes N.0 XX.XX. are still in my hands; of Drawings I received no more than 2 3 . 53 I thank you for the drawing of mount Vesuvius, but I shan't know what use to put it to, 'till I receive some particulars concerning the eruption; which according to the News-papers still continues. I desire you to hasten what you can collect about it; for, iflong delayed, it will be of no service. This, I fear, will prove to be the fate of what I have transcribed already concerning the Jubilee; which, even with the long additions you sent last, is not likely to be rendered so compleat and entertaining as I could wish it. However, I shall continue to patch up the intended Account, as well as I can; to which I would willingly subjoin one of this eruption, in the form of a letter, or otherwise, if I could be furnished with proper materials. That somewhat relation to the former especially may be [58r] published I am the more desirous, as mentioned in my last, because it would yield an opportunity of rectifying the mistakes &c. which you promised to do in your next. From the account I had received from several gentlemen of the advantageousness of the business you had undertaken (which undertaking, by the way; you have never owned to me) I was in hopes, that I had been secure from any complaints of your circumstances. My promise of a remittance was conditional, in case of good success in the disposal of the copies in large paper, which I have not yet had. Our circumstances here have not been at all improved by selling books; with which bad news I have hitherto deferred to trouble you, but may shortly speak more explicitely on that disagreeable subject. However, I do not despair of being able e'er long in some measure to answer your expectations. In the mean time, accept of what we can at present onely send, besides a few books, our blessings, our loves, and hearty wishes of many happy years, from your Mother, your Brother, your Sisters, and Your most affectionate Father Ric. Russel I expect a letter before this can come to your hands. Things sent by order of the rev. d Mr Edw. Ventris. A 3 yard measure in a walking } cane. ------- 4 dozen of small pencils with a} brass crayon to screw. -- I dozen of large pencils ---- £. s. d. O:ITO 133 Brought over. ---- ­ A brass pen and silver case Writing paper and wax. - ­ A pair of buckskin breeches. £. s. d. 3:16:0. 0:2:0. 0:3:0 1:5:0 A four-piece knife. ----- A pocket-book with a silver lock - A pocket spying-glass. --- A small fl.at rounded padlock. - Two razors and a hone. - 6 knives and forks. ----- Letter 42 JASON M. KELLY 0:6:0 0:19:0 0:5:0 0:0:6 0:10:0 O:T6 3:16:0 Sent at our charge. 8 Sets of Patres Apostoli- } ci: boards blue paper. 2 Vol. 7 sets of Young Painter's Let­ ters: 2 Vol. bound. --- E. of Orrery's Pliny's Epistles. 2} Vol. boards blue paper. -- Dr. Russel's Letter to Mr Tho. Bigg Surgeon. 54 ----- 5:6:0 3:10:0 O:II:O 8:3:0 Oames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, 19 January 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, f. 56v] To the rev.cl Mr Russel. RomeJan. 19. 1751. Hon.cl Sir, The forewritten *Abstract wou'd have been sent sooner, had the historical narration fell sooner into my hands: but tho' I had interceded with a freind who went to Naples, to send it me, he fail'd and I have been obliged to another gentleman for the narration in Italian; which I have not translated entirely, but that only which I thought necessary to the purpose; the original Italian making up sixteen pages in quarto, to the place I have left off: the remaining part of the narration the Gentleman not having yet receiv'd, but is in daily expectation of it from Naples. Pray, my kind respects to Mr [Robert] Wood, and acquaint him that I have just receiv'd his favour of December 12.'h that I have just receiv'd twenty other pictures of his views &c. and his books from Dr Uames] Erwin [Irwin], and have packt them up in a box, and shall this week send them off to Leghorn, to Mr Uames] How[e] who has the care of those boxes formerly sent; to whom I shall give orders to put them all on board the first ship bound for Ireland; which when done, I shall not fail giving Mr Wood proper notice. I am in continual Hopes, that at length time and leisure from business will allow of your correspondence, more constant and uninterrupted; which will be great pleasure, as well as comfort to, Dear Sir Yours most dutifully * Abstract from An Historical Narration of that which occurr' d at Mount Vesuvius, in the place call' d L' A trio del Cavallo, from the 25'h day of October 1751. at which time the Eruption begun; also that which happened afterwards. Letter 43 Oames Russel, Rome, to Ralph Howard, Venice, 18 March 1752. National Library of Ireland, Wicklow MS 38628/9] A Monsieur Monsr Howard Gentilhomme Anglois, chez Monsieur Uoseph] Smith a Venetia [Ir] Sir According to your request, as well I as my own desire of obeying your commands I I send you this, hoping that it will meet with you I in good health at Venice. At the same time I I lay hold of the occasion to repeat my hum- I ble and hearty thanks for your kind and gene- I rous treatment during your stay at Rome, I and 134 g Lt d LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD as I have reason to imagine it was I solely the effects of your charitable way of I thinking, so I hope my conduct will be such I as to deserve the continuance of your I favour, and protection. Mr Abbey [William] Wilkins I has inform' d me that he has sent off Your I trunk, and the box you left with me; as I for the empty trunk, I thought it was I best to keep it 'till your further order's. I I this day visited Mr [George] Chambers [Chalmers] at the / Pal: Borghese, who has forwarded your [Iv] picture55 much, and in my opinion will succeed I in it very well; the size of the cloath adds I to the figure much, it not being so much I crowded as in the original. Upon some dis- I course I had with Mr Uoshua] Reynolds, he seem'd I very sorry, that he had lost your good graces; / he has work' d much upon your picture56 since I and really has altered it much for the better. I I hope in this you believe me to speak my I opinion with sincerity, as I assure you, I I alway's shall, without being led by any other I motive whatever. Mr [Thomas] Patch tells me he has I v~ry nigh finish'd another of your copies,57 and I Mr [Simon] Virpyle, by working very hard, has brought reduc d I his block, into something of a human shape.58 I As for Mr [Richard] Wilson, he continues with his usual I diligence and study, and I believe you'll/ have the other pictures, not any ways inferior, I to those you have already seen.59 I wou'd I fain if I cou'd give as good account of I myself; I mean not as to my capacity, but as to my diligence I in serving you; yet in a short time I hope so to do. Messrs I [Lascelles Raymond] lremonger and [Benjamin] Lethi[e]ullier arriv' d here this morning. The great I fat Gentleman, concern' d in the merry bout &c. set off post haste on I friday se'ennight for England, the reason of which is best known to I himself, but I believe may be easily guest [sic] at by most people. I Mr Cook [or Kuch] is gone to Naples. I am with great sincerity Sir Your most obliged Humble Servant James Russel. P.S. Pray my best respects I to Mr Benson, to whom I shall I not fail writing next post. Rome, Mar. I8. I752. Letter 44 Uames Russel, Rome, to Ralph Howard, 6 June r752. National Library of Ireland, Wicklow MSS 38628/9] [Iv] {from Russel I Pictures &c.} (Ir] Sir I have received your favour from Milan, and I was sorry to find myself disappointed in certain hopes, which had I their rise from a report that you intended to revisit this city. I wrote I both to you, and Mr Benson some time ago, to Venice[.] Monsr [Claude-Joseph] Vernet/ left this place on monday on his way to Sienna; he has delivered I me your picture, in which he has succeeded so well in finishing, that I I cou'd hardly believe it was the same we saw begun, and which if I you remember, neither of us lik'd much. But now, I believe, it will/ please you, it being the opinion of several, that it is as fine a peice I as ever came from his hands. Mr [Thomas] Patch has sent me likewise his I quota of pictures; and Mr [Richard] Wilson has very nigh finish' d his; so that I in a short time I am in hopes of being able to send off a cargo of I your virt:U; but pray let me know how you wou'd have them directed. I I have lately had the pleasure of attending a party of Gentlemen, to Ti- I voli, Pala:strina, Antium &c. which consisted of my Lord Bruce [Thomas Bruce-Brudenell, later Earl of Ailesbury], Sir I Thomas Kennedy, Messrs [Lascelles Raymond] Iremonger, [Benjamin] Lethiullier, andMr Scroop [Thomas Scrope]; these Gen- I tlemen at present are at Naples; and Rome now is very thin; there I being only Lord Uames Caulfeild, Earl of] Charlmont [sic] and Mr [William] Bagot. At Adrian's Villa we I saw a place where the Marquis Gabrielle [Marchese Angelo Gabrielli, later Prince Gabrielli] has been at the expence of I digging, and is upon that spot where the famous Centaur's were found, I and where it is suppos'd Adrian's principle residence was. There was dis- I covered several fine mosaic pavements, which the Marquis has cut into I tables, and has transported to Rome; ~ one of which he has made a I present of to my Lord Charlmont. In digging 135 JASON M. KELLY in a vineyard near the ca- I tacombs of S. Sebastian, were the other day discover' d several bodies, I and together with them were found three very rare and fine medals, I two of Commodus, and one of Marcus Aurelius. The Pope [Benedict XIV] has purchas'd I them, and they are to be plac'd amongst his rare collection at the Va- I tican. A very fine cameo, an inch and an half over, representing Bae- I chus and Ariadne, has fell into the hands ofSigre [Antonio] Borioni, of exquisite I workmanship; it was lately found among some rubbish, in making the I foundation of the convent of S. Augustia in Campo Marzo. They are at I present erecting upon the castle of S. Angelo, a brazen statue of I S. Michael sheathing his sword; it is about 23 feet high, and the action and the I air of the figure seems to me to be taken from the famous picture of Guido's at I the Capuchiris. 60 The Venetian Ambassador has been suddenly ill of a meliquant I fever, and was yesterday given over by his physicians. Pray my kind respects I to Mr Benson. I am Sir Your very obliged Humble Servant J. Russel Rome,June. 6.th 1752. Letter 45 Uames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, 14 June 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 58v-6or] To the rev.cl Mr Russel Rome,June 14.th 1752. Honoured Sir, You have been no doubt under daily expectations of the remainder of the account of Mount Vesuvius, as promis'd in my last; but the last sheets that contain'd the aforesaid relation, I have not yet been able to get from Naples. And now I find so much time has pass'd, that I was resolv'd not to defer writing any longer, tho' I am afraid you'll imagine that I had laid aside all intentions of it; which I assure you is very far from< 2 l both{t} my thoughts and inclination; and shou'd esteem myself extremely happy, if business wou'd permit a regular correspondence at least once a month. I last week receiv' d the box sent me by Mr [Edward] Ventris, and found every thing in it agree with your catalogue, except the small flat round padlock. I return you my hearty thanks for the books you sent me; and am very sorry to hear, that there has been so little success in selling books &c. As to myself, it is necessary I .shou'd mention something, tho' it may be disagreeable, since you have such a favourable notion of the advantage of the business I follow. Upon a certain person's [Mark Parker] removal from this place, it was suggested to me by some friends, that I should make a trial of a post [antiquary], in which it was very probable I shou'd succeed; and let the consequences be what they wou'd, I cou'd lose nothing in the trial &c. &c. Accordingly I sat out with a very fair prospect; but the doubt of the success was the reason that I did not chuse to communicate it to my friends. I had the satisfaction to attend most of the Gentlemen Travelers at Rome, and amongst others the Lords [George Augustus and Frederick] Cavendish; but unfortu­ nately for me, as [59r] I was breakfasting with those Lords, Mr [Robert] Lowth unluckily let fall a boiling tea-kettle of water upon one of my legs; which accident laid me up for six weeks; whereby I was rendered incapable of serving those Gentlemen, that I had begun with: but what was more fatal, it gave room to others to supply my place, particularly one LJohn Parker], who, to maintain himself, abus'd me plentifully, by repre­ senting me as a person dangerous as to my principles, and in the service of [the Stuarts] It is surprizing how this report past current, and how industriously it was spread at Florence, where England has a resident [Horace Mann]; and at Turin, where there was an Ambassador [William Nassau de Zuylestein, 2nd Earl of Rochford]; through which places all English Gentlemen pass on their way to Italy; and from whence they take advice how they are to act at Rome, as from an oracle. I was mark' d down as a person to be avoided; which advice, some out of fear, others out of policy, and a great many out of prejudice followed. However some Gentlemen (particularily my Lord [William, Viscount] Pultney and Mr [Henry] Seymour) to whom I shall be ever obliged, saw through the malignity of the persecution, and had spirit enough to give me encouragement; by the strength of which I have hitherto kept myself above water, and am in hopes of triumphing over my enemies at the long a J 1 rl n n g d rs w ;e .]; w ie :n d, th 1g LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD run, as I am very glad to hear that my Brother the Doctor has done. I have here in a few words given you a short relation of what wou'd, I assure you, were I to relate the particulars, make up a large pamphlet. Within this last month I had the honour of attending a party of Gentlemen, viz. my Lord Bruce [Thomas Bruce-Brudenell, later Earl of Ailesbury], Sir Tho. Kennedy Bar.' Mr [Lascelles Raymond] Iremonger, Mr [Benjamin] Lethi[e]ullier, and Mr Scroop [Thomas Scrope], to Tivoli, Pal~strina, and Antium. To this last place I return [59v] to-morrow, by orders of one of the fore mention'd Gentlemen, to take a plan and drawings of some of the most remarkable places &c. so that some account of tp.is place may be the subject of another letter. -There has lately plac'd in the Capitol a beautiful statue of Venus [Capitoline Venus], found in a vine­ yard of Rome; it is about five feet six inches high, and what makes it more estimable is, its being entire, except for a finger or two. She stands something in the action of the Venus of Medici. Three very rare and beautiful Medals, one of Marcus Aurelius, and two ofCommodus, have been purchas'd by the Pope [Benedict XIV], and added to his famous Collection of Medals at the Vatican Library: I have not yet seen them, as they were: but dug'd up the other day, in a vineyard near the Catacombs of S. Sebastian's, together with some other human bodies, suppos'd to have been Christians. I was at Sig!e [Antonio] Borioni's to see a fine ~eo, found amongst some rubbish in building a convent: it represents a Bacchus and Ariadne; a bit of the nose of the former, and an arm of the latter broke off: however the fore-mention'd old Gentleman, who has great skill !n these sort of things, as well as Medals, did not scruple paying immediately for it seventy sequins; the workmanship is excellent, and of the best age. They arePl atl 1l presentl2 l are at work in erecting a large brazen statue of about 22 feet high, on the top of the castle ofS. Angelo. It represents S. Michael sheath­ ing his sword, as it is said he appear'd on that castle, in the time of a great plague, which happened in Pope Gregory's reign. Thus· Rome continually goes on increasing in its beauty and [6or] value, both as to modem and antique acquisitions; which the present Pope has encourag' d as much, if not more, than any of his predecessors. I hope this finds you in a good state of health, as well as the rest of the family; to whom, I pray, present my usual [blank] oflove, and affection. To my Mother, I beg to be particularly recommended, for her kind prayers and blessing; and I hope the same from You will be ever indulgent upon Hon.d Sir Your very dutiful and affectionate son ]. Russel. I here send inclos'd a copy of a drawing, which just now fell into my hands, and which I have copied as well as the shortness of the time wou' d permit. I have been assur' d by Gentlemen that have examin' d the drawing that it is very exact &c. Letter 46 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, 9 July 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 6or-62r] To Mr James Russel. London, July 9.'h 1752. Dear Jemmy, The receit of yours on June 14.'h. gave me double pleasure, as it informed me of your health, and of the safe arrival of the box; as to both which, I had been too long under an anxious state of uncertainty. The flat2, small21, round padlock, that was missing, I put up with my own hand, in one of the larger parcels. I return you thanks for the drawing [ofVesuvius]; tho' wanting the names of the villages &c. on the side of the mountain, it does not answer to the description in writing, and consequently cannot illustrate it: one that [6ov] would do it might be proper to publish. It was charged half a crown which, tho' but half as much as each of your two preceding. letters, might have come to my hands at less expence, as I was informed just afterwards, by Dr. [Richard] R.[awlinson] all whose letters from Mr [Thomas] W.[agstaffe] come to Paris with out any charge. I wish that all yours at least those which contain any thing inclosed, may be conveyed for the future by the same canal. 137 JASON M. KELLY Your letter to Mr [Robert] Wood I delivered myself who told me, that Mr [Richard] Dalton had expressed to him some concern, for having inadvertently recommended a certain person Uohn Parker] to Ld. Uames Caulfeild, Earl of] Charlemont. The same had called here but just before, and told me, that your hesitation in declaring your intentions had given that person an opportunity of rivalling you; which he could not have done, had you been more expeditious. During our discourse, I was upon my guard, knowing his principles and patrons here: he pretended a great regard for you, and invited me strongly to make him a visit. The person hinted at above has been much puffed in the News-papers of late. After it had been published in several of them, that an Academy had been actually formed under him, as being a great Artist, the following Puff appeared in the London Daily Advertiser &tc. June 22. 'It is reported that a new Academy of Painting is soon to be set on foot at Rome, for the better improving of that science, under the direction of that eminent Artist Mr Parker, and that several English Gentlemen have already subscribed.' I should be glad to know real state of this affair. [ 6 Ir] Mr Marsh called upon William, about two or three months ago, complaining that he had not received above half the things he expected from you. Mr [Francis Burrell] Massingberds wrath is so much asswaged, that he talks of writeing you, but I apprehend he will onely talk of it a good while: however, in the mean time, he desires your acceptance of his humble service. Mr [Dennis] Bond left his countrey-house at Stoke-green last Lady-day; and has taken lodgings, for some part of the summer, at Theobald's, about twelve miles from Town, in the road to Hoddesden: his small house in Cowley-Streer w estrninster he still keeps. Mrs [Elizabeth] Hutton [nee Ayscough] died in that street on Tuesday last, having survived Mr Uohn] Hutton but a little time; and Jemmy, who is a Moravian Bishop, now inherits the greatest part of their fortune, his Sister having been dead above these two years. 61 Clemmy has been rambling in Sussex this year and half; and, like a Painter, pays her entertainers for her board with presents of pictures. She copies stamps exceeding well; and would have been able, no doubt, to have done somewhat extraordinary by this time, in the way of painting, had she had the advantage of proper instruction and incouragement. She went on with some alacrity, while she had any expectations or hopes of your return: but since these have been at an end, she has been in an odd way, by alternate fits of high and low spirits. When I saw her about a month ago at Burwash, she was in a disposition to have taken flight to Rome, had she had any other wings but those of her Pegasus to convey her thither. July, 16.th I this day received a letter from her, in which she complains that having lately 'endeavoured to draw something smaller then usual, she found her sight so bad, as to put her under the dreadful apprehension of losing it intirely; and that in [61v] writeing her letter, she was forced to rest three times.' Would spectacles contribute to the recovering and preserving of it in drawing? I think, you informed me a good while ago, that you had been forced to use them yourself for some time. Mr Uames] Dawkins, who, returned from Paris some months since, has taken a large house in Hanover­ square; where I hope he will be settled, without taking any more sudden and long trips abroad. Mr [George] Pitt [later, Baron Rivers] is at his seat at Stratfield-sea. His French Cook [Pere de Bree], whom he lately brought over with him, was hanged this week for robbing him.62 Mr Uoseph] Trapp, by the death of Dr. [Walter] Chapman the elder, is come into the possession of a living [rectorship ofStratfield Saye], in that Gentleman's patronage, worth above 3001. a year; which he holds, together with another adjoining [Stratfield Turgis] above rnol. presented to him before the same. Your letter to Mr [Edward] Ventris was delivered here this day; and will be conveyed to him, in a parcel of books, which is to go from hence to-morrow. He was in Town last week; but I had not the good fortune to see him, being at a distance from it myself The Doctor [Richard Russel] had a very bad fall from his horse last week; but, God be thanked, is in a fair way of recovery. His business continues to increase; and in all probability will be very considerable, when an old Physician there, who is above fourscore, is gone off the stage. I hope you have received from Naples by this time the last sheets of the account of the late eruption of Vesuvius: for whether I shall make any public use of it, or not, I should be glad to have the whole. By unac­ countable delays, the relation both of that, and of the Jubilee, has been postponed so long, that I cannot at . ·~ f .1 .f . t LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD present form any resolution about either. The catalogue [ 62r] likewise of the mistakes in the Second Volume, which has been promised more then once, should not be deferred any longer. Dr. R.[awlinson] called this minute, and desires you to tell M' W.[agstaffe] that he shall soon receive a parcel from him: pray make my compliments to that Gentleman. Look back upon some of my last letters, and see what particulars remain unanswered. your Mother it has pleased God to bless with a good state to health, and to visit me with a very troublesome and uneasy distemper. From so long an affiiction by the gravel, I have been frequently under great apprehen­ sions of the stone: but I am now in hopes, that I have no certain symptoms of that dreadful disease. Our bless­ ing and prayers attend you. I had almost forgot to tell you, that a Gentleman, who had formerly been at Rome himself, told another lately, that he had heard you had changed your religion. Avertat Deus. Letter 47 [Thomas Wagstaffe to Revd G., 29 August 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, f. 63r] In a Letter from the rev.d M' W. to the revd. M' G. dated Aug. 29.th 1752. The report of M' James Russel's being perverted to the Church of Rome is utterly false: he was at Prayers with me last sunday. This report was mention'd by his Father in a letter to him, and will in his answer be con­ futed under his own hand: however he desired me to beg the favour of my Friend to acquaint his Father with my testimony against this calumny, which probably comes from some of his Rivals in Antiquity, who have said other things of him that are not true, in order to prejudice his interest with the English Travellers: but I believe they will find themselves mistaken, and that he will get the better of them by his prudence and unexceptionable conduct, as I conceive he is equal, and possibly superior to the most knowing among them in the business of an Antiquary. Letter 48 Uames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, 13 September 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 63r-65r] To the rev.d M' Russel Rome Sept. lJ.th 1752 Honoured Sir, Your expeditious answer to my letter of June 14.th brought with it great satisfaction, as it has given me the hopes of a more constant and more regular correspondence, than has hitherto subsisted between us. Had I taken the drawing ofM. Vesuvius from the original itself, I shou'd not have fail'd to have plac'd the villages about it; however I have been assur'd by certain Gentlemen, that have lately been at Naples, that the sketch I sent you was a very exact representation of the course of the fire. One of these Gentlemen brought me some other sheets, in relation to the eruption, which tho' amounting to [63v] above 400 pages, does not contain the whole. Such a long prolix account I do not know how to promise to send you, but I'll see if an abstract can be made from it. I have great reason to imagine, that M' [Richard] D.[alton] heartily repents of his recommendation ofM' Uohn] P.[arker] to a certain NoblemanUames Caulfeild, Earl of Charlemont], as much for his own sake, as that of others. But M'. D's. good nature, inadvertency, or whatever you please to call it, was something very unac­ countable and extraordinary; because he had already experienced the man to his own cost on former occasions. Pray my kind respects to M' D. the first opportunity that offers, and assure him that I shall be always anxious of cultivating his reguard and friendship, and that if I can be of any service to him in this place, he may freely command me. The puffing article in the London Daily Advertiser of June 22. has not only been seen by myself, but is known likewise to all the students; that last indeed which you mention, we have not seen. The modesty and conduct of this person has been so very extraordinary, that it will be but just, both in reguard to the public, and in respect to particular persons concern' d, to give a true and fair state of the case . 139 JASON M. KELLY Upon some disputes arising in the Accademy (which was maintain'd by the contribution of the painters themselves) in relation to oeconomy &c. some Gentlemen hearing of these disputes, rather than the Accademy shou' d fail, generously offer' d to contribute towards the expences of it &c. This offer by some of the Students was approv' d of, and by others objected against as a mean thing &c. but the chief reason, as I have since found, was, that they suspected least Mr P. shou'd take upon him [64r] to be a leading man, and aspire to an office he had no more right to than another. The Noblemen and Gentlemen hearing of these dissensions, wou'd not contribute afterwards, unless they saw the names of those that were willing to accept of their generosity. Amongst others I sign'd my name, thinking it no mean thing to accept of this generous encouragement, but especially on account of promoting the well fare of others; for at present, I myself can make but little use of the Accademy, having frequent calls for other businefs. I have reason, tho' not the vanity to say, that my name being added to that of others gave some weight to the Gentlemens subscription. Now, Sir, so far the Gentlemen were from making Mr P. Director; that that very thing was objected against, not to give any motive of dislike to the rest of the Students, and that all might be upon the same footing. As I had the satisfaction of being assur' d of this from several of the Gentlemens own mouths, and meeting with that puffing Article, meaa-t I was resolv'd, tho' others did not care to do it, to speak to Mr P. very freely upon that subject, which I accordingly did in the manner his conduct and his quacking Advertisement deserv' d. The effects of which was, that we had a meeting immediately, a model was taken, and the Accademy is set upon such a footing, that no body can pretend to be Director, more than another; and 'tis '0 be hop'd will now be carried on with great harmony &c. This is the true state of the case; yet to counter balance the false representation in the Article of the News paper, and to do justice to those that are concern' d in it, and to remove the objections that others [ 64v] may have in not coming into this Accademy; I think it wou' d not be improper to be at the expence of putting in an article in the same Paper, to this effect. 'We are assur'd from Rome by very good hands, that the Noblemen and Gentlemen, who have so generously contributed towards the foundation of an Accademy were not a little supriz'd to hear Mr LP. stil'd with so much modesty, and without any authority, Director of the said Accademy; the intent of that generous Subscription being to promote the advantage of English Students in general (and of consequence Mr l.P. is included) but not to feed the conceit and vanity of any particular'. I submit this to your approbation; but I beg particular care may be taken, that it be not known as coming from me, for very good reasons. Tho' were I to do justice to myself, and render par pro pari, for his low, base, ungenerous treatment of me, I cou' d not paint him in colours black enough. If you think proper to make any alterations in the above-written by mending of it, I wou'd not have any thing more express'd in it; least it shou'd be of detriment and disadvantage to the Accademy in its infancy&. I was disappointed in sending this by the canal you mention'd; but you may depend upon my next corning that way. P.9.1.29. Senators, read Senator P.15.1.8. like Antoninus Pius. Dele. P.16.l.15. byBemini, Dele. Add a sta- tue of Paul III. P.18.1.r. beatiful r. beautiful. P.19.1.5. geese r. ducks - supposed to represent those that made a noise at the siege of the Capitol. Dele. l.26. of Appius Claudius. Dele P.20.1.15. Antinous r. Appius Ciecus. P.22.1.28. In a lumber room &c. Dele. P.27.1.27. -Villa Adriani. Add. - And a fine statue of the God Anubis, found at Antium. P.29.1.4. -Antinous, r. Septimius Se-verus [65r] alter thus, One bust of JElius Cesar. - Another of Antinous. - P.30.1.8. Three years ago. Add. A peice of antique mosaic painting, found at Antium, representing Hercu­ les spinning, and Cupids taming a lion &c. P.31.1.3. AIAPHTE r. AlilPHTE 1. 29. cpA.ux.pi:s r. cpxioprii:s P.32.1.13 Caracalla r. Plotina P.40.1.8 inscriptions. Add, two statues of a Faun, and another of Cupid and Psyche. P.4r.l.27. swan. Add, a statue of Jupi­ ter. P.47.1.11 Two busts ofJElius Ca:sar &c. to the word Ma. Carinus. Dele, and One bust of Annius Verus. - One ofL. Verus. &c. LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD A bust of Antoninus Pius. - Two busts of Faustina senior. - Four of M. Aurelius. - On the second shelf, One of Faustina Junior his wife. - Letter 49 1. 22. his mother; r. his wife, P. 230.1.23. Palace ofr. Villa Borghese P.240.1.22. Furoni's r. Furietti's On Plate V. Vol. II. Christopher r. Chi­ chester. [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, 20 September 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 62r-62v] To M' James Russel. London, Sept. 20. 1752. Dear Jemmy, To yours of June 14.th N.S. (for which distinction there will be no more occasion) I returned an answer the 16.'h of July, which was almost 8 weeks ago; and have been in expectation of hearing from you every post this fortnight. I would not however, tho' I have not any thing very material to say, let slip this opportunity of conveying a letter to your hands, by a Gentleman, who is corning to make some stay at Rome. His name is Anthony Langley Swymmer Esq. member of parliament for South=Hampton; who [62v] has been a very good customer to us, and will be, I doubt not, a very generous pupil to you. We have been much pestered of late with articles in the News-papers, relating to the misunderstanding betwixt the Chevalier Uames Francis Edward Stuart] and his Son the Cardinal [Henry, Duke ofYork]; of which we should be very glad to receive some short and true account. M' Uames] Dawkins has been much out of order with a feverish indisposition, for which he has been some time at the Hot Well at Bristol, where he has received considerable benefit. M' [Samuel Pargiter] Fuller, who was with M' John Bouverie at Rome, by the death of one M' [Thomas] Pargiter, an uncle by the mothers side, is said to have come to a large fortune. He was an odd mortal, and for his last seven years never stirred out of his chambers in Grays-inn: where he imprisoned so large a number of books, that a Book-seller, without seeing them, has offered for them 20001.63 I have begun to take a Catalogue of them, which will require a good deal of time to finish. M' Richard Phelps has sent M' Uohn] Hervey the statue; and is at present Tutor to the [Charles Somerset, 4'h] Duke of Beaufort's eldest son [Henry Somerset, later 5th Duke of Beaufort] at Badrnington in [blank]. I have frequently had it in my thoughts, tho' I still forgot to mention it when I wrote, to desire some infor­ mation concerning the price of fine stamps at Rome; imagining that a considerable advantage might be made by selling them here, and that a little business of this kind would not be improper for Clemmy. As it will probably be near Christmas before this letter will be delivered, I shall not inlarge it with particulars, that will require a more speedy answer than can be returned after the receipt of this; and I hope I shall be able to dispatch an answer to your next, that may arrive at Rome even before this shall reach that place. Accept the love and service of your Brothers, Sisters and Friends; together with your Mothers blessing, and That of Your most affectionate Father Letter 50 Oames Russel, Rome, to Ralph Howard, Paris, 20 September 1752. National Library of Ireland, Wicklow MS 38628/9] A Monsieur Mons' Ralph Howard Gentilhomrne Anglois au soin de Monsieur George Walter Le Jeune rue S'. Anne a 141 Paris {Pictures} [Ir] Sir JASON M. KELLY To your favour from Milan, I answered I on June 6'h, and directed my letter to George Walters le I Jeune at Paris, which I doubt whether you have receiv' d I as I have not had since the pleasure of further news I of you, tho' you prornis'd to inform me, when you went I farther Westward. As we are now in the month of Septem- I ber, I was in doubt whether I ought to direct to you I again at Paris, or at Dublin, but I have taken the I former method, having considered that Mr George I Walters wou'd have order's to forward you your letter's. It is sometime I have receiv'd the Quota of pie- I tures from Mr [Thomas] Patch and Mr [George] Chamber's [Chalmers], as likewise the I landskip from Monsieur [Claude-Joseph] Vernet, which I intended to I have sent off with those of Mr [Richard] Wilson's, but this last I acquainted me that he had your leave, tho' they were I finish'd, to keep them some time longer. This discon- I certed me in my design of complieing with your former I order in sending you off a cargo the first opportunity, I as I thought it a needless expence to makeffig two I different~ cases for your pictures, when one wou' d I serve. I suppose Mr Wilson cannot with reason ex- I pect to keep by him your pictures much longer, there- I fore I am in hopes of being able to acquaint you in a I short time of their being sent off. [Simon] Vierpyle has fi- I nish'd your marble tables, and the statue of the Faun I is far advanc' d, and will tum out to appearance ex- I ceeding well, both in respect to the marble and the I workmanship; he tells me that he has been very fortunate in the peice [sic] of I marble destin'd for your other statue. A commission is lately come from I England to the Cardinal [Alessandro] Albani, to have some of the best capital pictures I copied, viz. The battle of Constantine, the School of Athens &c. which are to be I plac'd I hear in Somerset House.64 These copies are to be perform'd by the best master's I in Rome, according to the judgment of the Cardinal; but to hear the little I Architect [Matthew Brettingham] talk, one wou'd imagine the Cardinal was in leading strings, I and that he had the holding them. As the present time is the hot season, I or the cattina aria as they term it, we have no English Gentlemen here I except My Lord Games Caulfeild, Earl of] Charlemont, who has been extremely ill of a rheumatism, I and is not yet recovered. Mr Cook, and Sir Thomas Kennedy left this I place yesterday on their way to Florence, and Lucca, where, it is re- I ported is a great flock of English. I have procur'd the musick, you I desir'd of Mr [Charles] Wiseman. I am in daily expectation of the pleasure, I and honour of hearing from you and remain Sir Your most obliged Humble Servant ]. Russel Rome, Sept. 20.'h 1752. Letter 51 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, 2 November 1752. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 65r-66v] To Mr James Russel. London Nov. 2. 1752. Dear Jemmy, Tho' you assign a sufficient reason for not having placed the names of villages in your last drawing, it being onely a copy taken from another, in which there was none; yet this reason, relating onely to yourself, does not answer my objection, That it can be of no service to me, as not being fit to publish. By comparing it with the former, wherein the course of the fire is likewise marked out, I can see little or no similitude, and for want of here and there a name of a village, to which the lava approached, or from which it declined, it does not plainly appear, that the two drawings describe the course of one and the same lava. I was in hopes, that you had kept a copy of the last drawing; to which you might have made the addition I wanted, from some more perfect 142 f LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD one since. To those Gentlemen who have seen the form of the lava it may be (as you say) a very exact representation of it: but co those who onely read the description, it can yield no light. -When you sent me the first part of your Abstract of the Historical Relation of this Eruption (as long ago as Jan. 19. 1751.) you say'd it was an abridgment of 16 pages in 4c0 • This filled almost 3 pages in folio of your close writing; and now you surprize me much by telling me, that you have received 400 pages more, which yet do not contain the whole. If you can draw your intended Abstract into a much narrower compass, than that part which you have sent already, a reader may perhaps [65v] labour through it; but if the residue be extended in proportion to that, it must needs frighten him, for it will take up above 65 pages in folio. I have not any great idea of your modem Italian Antiquarians or Histori{=•lographers. If you look back upon my last Letter, you will find yourself mistaken in saying, That last {puffing Article} indeed which you mention, we have not seen: for I spoke in the first place of several puffing article in the News-papers; and then in the last place gave you that very article, which you tell me you had all seen. I take notice of this little instance of inadvertency, that you may answer my future Letters with more accuracy. I should have been glad to have seen some part of the puffing Director's excuse in relation to the Article. I have compared your Catalogue of Errata with your original Letters, and find almost every one of them there: those which are not I shall here take notice of, and make some Queries in relation to others. P.9.1.27. Senators for Senator. Pray, what is the office of the Senator of Rome? P.31.1.3 AIAPHTE read AMPHTE: in your copy it is AIAPHTE. In your Corrections you say P.16.1.15. add a statue of Paul III. The words stand thus, 'URBAN VIII. and LEO X. in marble by Bernini; and SIXTUS V. in brass by Fontana.' Where is the addition to be made, and how is the whole to run? P.20.1.15. ANTINOUS read APPIUS Ciecus: I suppose you meant CAECUS. In looking over your Letters I cast my eye upon a pretty long Inscrip­ tion, which follows That on the Colonna rostrasa, beginning SGBC•BGCEH. of which the explanation being intercepted, you promised more than once another. Dec. 7. Mr Hudson65 , about three weeks ago, sent a small box hither by his servant, which was directed to Mrs [Elizabeth] Bond, and had been opened at the Custom-house. We sent it to Westminster, having first taken out the little box directed to Mr Uohn] Quick, and the Letters to your Mother, to the Doctor, to Julian, and to William. Your Sisters thought they had reason [ 66r] to complain of your partiality in sending all your pres­ ents to Mrs Bond. She promised me, that she would write to you a fortnight ago; which induced me to defer the finishing of this Letter 'til now. She has been out of her reckoning above this month. Mrs Stephens, who died lately of the gout in her stomach, has like most old, rich, covetous women, deceived Julian's Uuliana Russel] just expectations, by not performing her repeated promise of providing handsomely for her; having left her; having left her onely 2001. in money. One Mr Robinson called upon me some time ago, who came from Rome in the summer: he stayed but a little while, promising to call again. Mr [Rowland] Holt and Mr [Edward] Ventris are now in Town: the former complains of your not sending him the drawings, for which he payed you, before he left Rome; and the latter tells me, that Mr Marsh made the like complaint to him the other day. I am not a little concerned at the frequency of such complaints, especially as I can give no satisfactory answer to them, and as I apprehend they will turn much to your disadvantage. Your friend Dr. Uohn] Monro, who had been chosen Assistant Physician to his father Uames Monro], at the hospitals of Bethlehem and Bridewell, about three years ago, upon his death, which lately happened, has succeeded him, without having any Assistant joined with him. Your old friend [Francis Burrell] Massingberd was here a few days since, and desires to be remembered to you. Mr [William] Drake, who called here to-day, says, he lately recommended a young Gentleman to you, who will soon set out for Rome, whose name is Barham. I would gladly know, whether there be any persons at a certain palace, who have the title of The Council, or Lords of the Council; the names of which Officers, as well as of others, I suppose, may be kept up. -- ­ you forgot to say any thing, in answer to the last article of mine of July 9. ch but as I have since received full satisfaction about your religion, by a message [66v] from a Gentleman upon whom I can depend, you need say nothing about it in your next. Pray, give my best respects to that Gentleman, not onely now when particularly mentioned, but for the future tho' omitted. 143 JASON M. KELLY Last Sept. 20. I gave a short Letter for you to one Mr [Anthony Langley] Swymmer, member of parliament for Southampton, who, with his Lady [Arabella Swymmer, nee Astley], set out for Rome the day after; and I heard this day, that they were arrived safe at Marseilles, so that you may expect to see them soon. Mr [Robert] Wood wrote to Dr. Uames] Erwyn about three weeks ago; whose Letter your Brother put into the post, and which we hope is by this time come to hand, as it related partly to You. Mrs [Elizabeth] Bond sends me word this minute, that she has almost finished her letter to you, which will therefore very probably begin its voyage to you by this day se'nnight's post. I am in no small perplexity what to do in relation to the Accounts you sent of the Jubilee, and of the eruption of Vesuvius. I was very desirous of publishing something this winter, which might have revived the sale of the Letters; and imagined that those two subjects, with the addition of the Creation of the Cardinal, might have furnished out a Piece, which might have sold for half a crown or three shillings. But whether such a design be prosecuted, or not; I hope to receive speedily the Abridgment of the Vesuvian story. I had almost forgot to tell you, that one Capt. Leland inquired about three months ago, whether you had sent any things for him; and made a second inquiry last week. Letter 52 Uames Russel, Rome, to Ralph Howard, Dublin, 16 January 1753. National Library of Ireland, Wicklow MS 38628/ 9] To Ralph Howard, Esq. in Suffolk-Street in Dublin Ireland Per Angleterre {from Russel I Pictures Statues &c.} [rr] Sir I defer'd from time to time answering to your I favour from London ofOctob. 2.d with the hopes of giving you some I satisfactory account of your virtu; but your kind wish of I my having little leisure, for which I am extremely oblig' d to I you, has been so much fulfill' d, that I am asham' d to own I that it has been at the expence of neglecting you, tho' indeed I it is but a short time since Mr [Richard] Wilson delivered me his quota I of pictures, whose delay had occasion' d no less uneasiness in me, I than in yourself, fearing least his might be attributed to my ne- I gligence. I last week sent off for Leghorn two cases directed I to Messrs Jackson, Hart, and Rutherford. N°.I. contains I four landskips, two Fryar's heads, a Venus and Satyr, and a Narcis- I sus, by Mr Wilson; four copies from [Claude Joseph] Vernet by Mr [Thomas] Patch, Mr I Benson's portrait, and your own portrait by Pompeio [Batoni]. - N°2. I contains, a Landskip by Vernet, S. Cecilia and Herodias by Cham- I bers [George Chalmers], The Caracatura by Reynolds; in each of these boxes are I a double set of Freiis Uohann Jakob Frey] prints for Mr Benson, with his name I wrote on them; and some music which you ordered me to get I of Mr [Charles] Wiseman. [Simon] Virpyle has finish'd your marble tables, and I the statues are so forward, that in about three month's they I will be finish'd; they have the appearance of doing himself I honour, and you justice. I have receiv'd a letter from Vernet I at Marseilles, part of his letter in relation to you I thought I proper to transcribe. - 'Nel tempo che restero qui, fo canto di I fare g1i quadri di Mr Howard; ma faccia ii favore di I farmi sapere, se vole che gli Ii mandi a Roma, quando sa- I ranno finiti, o a Livorno, o pure farli partire de' qui per In- I gliterra, a pettero g1i ordini puoi sopra di cio, in tanto scri- I vero al Banco del Sigr• [Giovanni Angelo] Belloni, accio diano ordine a qual che I Banquiere di questa citti, ove potro prendere il prezzo, di I detti quadri quando le avero fatti.' - For an answer to this I I shall wait your pleasure. Rome at present is full of English Gentlemen, and Ladies, the chief are my Lords I [William Legge, 2nd Earl of] Dartmouth, and [Frederick] North, Mr [William] Young, Mr [Anthony Langley] Swymmer, and Mr Smith 144 ;1 I ~~· i :.; . ~ ,r ~: ,, ! ., !. ,- . ' ' :~ ,• ( I - l: l :. \ :" '.l . • lj· '. LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD with their Ladies [Frances Catherine Legge, nee Nicoll, Countess of Dartmouth; Elizabeth Young, nee Taylor; Arabella Swymmer, nee Astley]; Messrs I [William] Lee, [Nathaniel] Webb, [Robert] Rochford, Belfort, Uohn] Wa[l]ter's, Colonel Bighton, Captain Uohn] Shirley, and Mr [Brimley] Butler &c. I for this last mention'd Gentleman's civilities, I find myself indebted to your and Mr I Benson's kind recommendation. Oflate I have heard of no new discovery's made in anti- I quity &c. but whenever there is I shall not fail communicating it to you, as I find it I will be agreeable to you. There has been lately commissions sent to the best painters I to make copies of some of the most capital pictures, amongst other's is the school of I Athens; these copies are to be fix'd up in Northumberland House. B .... [Brettingham] the Architect I was first trusted in this affair, but being detected with a design of regaling him- I self too much at the expence of other's, he has been discarded, and another put I in his room. I am asham'd to own that I have not yet begun the Aldobrandini I marriage, but after my hurry with the English is over, I hope to have time to set I down, and finish it out of hand. The opera's here, especially that of the Argentini I have turn' cl out very good; some of the best airs of which I shall take care accord- I ing to your order's to procure for you. I beg my kind compliments to Mr Benson, I who shall have a letter from me very soon. I hope this finds you settled, that I I may have the honour you promise me of a more constant correspondence; I I am with real esteem and sincerity Sir Your most obliged Humble servant James Russel Rome, Jan. 16'h 1753· Letter 53 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, 14 June 1753. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 66v-68r] To Mr James Russel. London Ascension-day June 14. 1753· It is now above six months ago that I wrote to you, and have received no answer; which disappointment occasions great perplexity. Sometimes I imagine, that my [67r] Letter, which was dated Nov. 2. and Dec. 7. and contained complaints from several Gentlemen, who had long expected to hear from you, was either too difficult, or too disagreeable, for you to answer. But being rather inclined to ascribe your silence to some less blameable cause, I am willing to suppose that your Answer has miscarried; which may perhaps be the more probable, since in the last I received from you of Sept. 13. you promised to send your next by the canal, which I had mentioned to you in mine of July 9.'h M' [Anthony Langley] Swymmer and his Lady [Arabella Swymmer, nee Astley] have been spoken of more than once in our News-papers of late, as beings among those several ladies and gentlemen who are now in Italy. I wrote a short Letter to you by that Gentleman, dated Sept. 20. with which I acquainted you in my last. In which, the last I mean, I desired an answer to so many particulars, that I shall not add to the number in this; but shall be well satisfied with the solution of those inquiries, if ever they came to your hands. The rest of my short letter shall be filled up with occurrences that have lately happened here. Your Sister Julian was married in February last to one M' [Thomas] Moreton, a brick-layer and plaisterer; whom we take '0 be a sober, industrious person, and likely to make a good husband. 66 It was a match intirely of her own making; for, as we could giver her no fortune, we did not oppose it: her disappointment in her just expectations from Mrs Stephens contributed not a little to the hastening of this affair. They live in Boswell-court near Red-lion-square, and let out some part of their house, for which they have no occasion, in lodgings, there being a constant demand for them in that place. This day se'n-night, Dr. [Archibald] Cameron, brother of the late [Daniel Cameron, Master of] Lochiel, was executed, in consequence of the sentence passed upon [ 67V] him, for not surrendering within the time limited by act of parliament. 67 He was taken in Scotland; but on what business he ventured himself in that countrey, 145 ; JASON M. KELLY there are several reports, but none that seem very probable. This however is certain, no man in the like cir­ cumstances ever behaved better, even according to the acknowledgement of his greatest enemies. You have received a Letter, I supposed, before this time, from Mrs Elizabeth Bond, which was sent about two months ago by one Mr Heywood [Richard Hayward]; whose mother and sisters live in the same street with her, viz. Copley-street. Dr Nichols Uohn Nicholl] resigned the mastership of the [Westminster] school at Laday [Lady Day] last, and is succeeded by one [William] Markham; who was educated first at Dublin, chosen a King's-scholar in your time, and afterwards elected off to Christ's-church: he is now put over [Pearson] Lloyd's head, who succeeded Uames] Johnson as Second Master. The last, from a nominal Cardinal, is become a real Bishop, of Glocester. There has been published very lately here a book in 8° Price 6s. intituled Observations upon the Antiquities of the Town of Herculaneum, discovered at the foot of Mount Vesuvius; with some Reflections on the Paint­ ing and Sculpture of the Ancients. And a short Description of the Antiquities in the neighbourhood of Naples. By Mr Bellicard Architect, member of the Academies ofBologna and Florence enriched with 42 Plates designed and engraved by the Author. The greatest number of these Plates are of the size of a Duodecimo; four are somewhat larger; but there are ten not three inches square. Twenty-five of them relate to Herculaneum and the rest to other places: besides their smallness seem to be very ill ingraved. The Au'hor owns, that he was not pennitted to make any use of a pencil, when he viewed the subterranean curiosities; so that his drawings were all done from his own memory, and consequently cannot be very exact. I [68r] am not apprehensive, that this book will hinder the sale of your Letters, or that your Account of Herculaneum will lose its reputation by the publication of this: but the sale of it has slackened pretty much this last winter, and during the sitting of Parlia­ ment, which broke up about a fortnight ago. It gives me frequent vexation, to reflect upon the long time elapsed, in which I have not been able to publish any thing, that might have contributed to the promoting of the sale. We have had now and then an article or two in our News, concerning fresh discoveries of statues, &c. and particularly of a volume rolled up, which stuck so close together, that it could not be unrolled. Let us know the truth of this in your next; which I desire may be dispatched by the next post after the receipt of this. I will not lengthen this odd letter, and make it odder, by giving you a particular account how it came to be deferred from June 14. to July 5. in general you may think it occasioned by cross accidents and disagreeable affairs. Accept our proper compliments, and believe them to be much more. P.S. Mr Cottington desires you to inquire after the person meant below, and to deliver the message. Robert Talbot and Maria [Basset, nee] Talbot, Son and Daughter of James Lord Talbot: their Grand-father was [Richard Talbot, lSt Earl of Tyrconnell] the Duke of Tyrconnel [a Jacobite title]. She married Thomas Rosell, a Turky-merchant; and her present name is Basset: she lives in The Land of promise at Hoxton near London; and desires to know, whether her Brother be now alive at Rome. Letter 54 Uames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, 31July1753. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 68v-7or] To the revd. Mr Russel RomeJuly 31." 1753. Honoured Sir, According to your commands I immediately answer to yours of June 14; and the more so because I find you have not receiv'd one from me, wrote in the month of March; the reason of which I can't account for, unless miscarriage of the post; tho' I am assur'd that the canal I made use of is very safe, and for which reason I make use of it again. I shall endeavour in this to recollect as well as I can what my former letter contain'd, which the reperusing of yours may facilitate the more. The Senator of Rome has the jurisdiction of civil and criminal causes amongst the citizens of Rome. He is never a Roman, but always a stranger, and generally a Doctor of the Law, and is at the beneplacitum of the Pope. He resides at the Capitol, has a Bergello (sheriff) and Sbirri (constables) under him, and in the time of the Sede vacante has great power. I suppose a foreigner is preferr'd before a Roman for political reasons. ';'i )' ). .i ·-~~I f LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD The Greek inscription on Homonoea being worn, I mistook the ~ for a A for upon close examination I found it to be AI~PHTE. P.16.1.14. Read .... round the hall are four statues of Popes: Urban VIII. and Leo X in marble, by Bernini; Paul IV. in marble, and Sixtus V. in brass by Fontana. The statue of Urban VIII. is not known who it is by That of Leo X is so indifferent, that I doubt whether it [69r] was made by Bernini. That of Paul IV (not Paul III. as noted in my former letter) the Sculptor unknown. This is that statue which was flung down the Tarpeian rock by the populace (as mention'd pag l04.l.2.&c.) And one sees at present that the head, and one of the hands has been replac'd, and in particu­ lar the inscription now under it seems to hint at its former disgrace, by the words, statuam diu obscuro loco pcentem. The statue of Leo X is represented rather as a young man, without any beard, which occasion'd me to examines into his life; and I find that he was made a Cardinal at fourteen years of age, Pope at thirty six, and died in the ninth year of his papacy: for which reason I suppose the sculptor did not represent him as an old man; therefore with submission, I think in the albentes comas express' d in the verses of the first volume p. 274.1.14. there is a little impropriety. P.20.1.15. ANTINOUS read APPIUS CAECUS, The inscription, which followed that on the Colonna Rostrata, beginning SGBC. are those verses, which if I remember right, you in a former letter; informe'd me you had seen, and which pleas'd you better than the print, to which they were annex' d. Mr [Rowland] Holt when he left Rome gave me my own time, as well as Mr Marsh, to draw the statues ordered by them; but I confess this is but a bad excuse, since I have run out that time to such a length; yet not with any design of failing in my engagement but with an intent of serving them the better, that is, in the care of making the drawings; and I assure you, ifI reckon the time, I shou 'd find that I [ 69v] have not gain' d six pence a day: this I mention not to take from the said Gentlemens generosity in paying me, but that they may know that I have not hurried them over, but that I have finish'd them with great diligence. About a month since I receiv'd a letter from my friend Dr Uohn] Monro, ordering me to buy up several things for him; which I have done, and sent them off to Leghorn in a box, on July 16.'h In this box I have sent the drawings of the five statues, which I was engaged to do for Mr Marsh, viz. Foetus and Arria at the villa Luoovici - Agrippina, at the Farnese gardens - and the Centaur and Cupid at the Borgese. There is likewise another parcel containing fourteen statues for Mr Holt, of which I shall here after send a list; in the mean time you will be pleas'd to acquaint these Gentlemen of the foremention'd particulars, and give them humble respects. As to Captain Leland, if you see him again, pray my humble service to him, and tell him that I have not forgot him; but he knows my terms were conditional, as he is well acquainted, what various incumbrances I have daily upon my hands. Ant[h]ony Langley Swymmer Esq. and his lady [Arabella, nee Astley], left Rome as long ago as April; during their stay here, they were extremely civil to me, and very generous; for which on their return, you will be so good as to join your thanks with mine. Mr Heywood [Richard Hayward] arriv'd here about a month ago, and has delivered me the letters from Mrs Bond &c. I have enquir'd about Mr Robert Talbot, but as yet can get notice of him. I have a great deal more to add in [ 7or] in relation to the rest of your queries, and many other things; but it is impossible in the present, therefore, I hope to make my next arrive soon upon the heels of this. The continuance of your and my Mother's love and blessing, the affection of my brothers, sisters &c. and health and happiness to all, is the constant prayer of &c. Letter 55 [Revd Richard Russel, London, to James Russel, 31 July 1753· BL Add. MSS 4n69, ff. 70r-'7lr] To Mr James Russel LondonJuly 3r. 1753. Dear Jemmy, One Mr Parrot, a young Sea-surgeon, with whom I have but a slender acquaintance, desires me to give him a letter to you, for the use of two Young Gentlemen, who set out for Paris last week. Their names are Parrot 147 I. JASON M. KELLY and Wright, the first of the city of Norwich, and the other of some place in the neighbourhood. They have each of them, he tells me, an estate of above 20001. a year; and under the care of a Governour are preceeding with all proper expedition to Rome: where not knowing any English Gentleman, they are desirous of this introduction to You; of whom they had received no unfavourable character. I need not say how grateful to me this application was; as it gave me an opportunity of obliging them, in an affair, which, I think, must needs be of some service to you. And I write with the greater alacrity, in confidence, that your behaviour towards them will confirm the good opinion entertained of you here by your friends, from the late testimony of Mr [William] Bagot. Mr [Thomas] Townson who was lately in town, congratulated me on it; and desired your acceptance of his compliments. [ 7ov] I wrote to you the 5. th inst. at which time I had not received a letter from you for almost ten months, your last bearing date Sept. r 3. I desire you to write, for the future, once in two months at the least, whether you had any letter of mine to answer or not: the like stated time of writing I will observe with regard to you. This will prevent any more such long and disagreeable interruptions of correspondence, and tedious expectations of hearing from each other. I am afflicted with returns of my old distemper; but have now and then intervals of ease, for a week or fortnight. I saw the Doctor [Richard Russel] last week at Reading, who goes on there successfully. Mr [Dennis] B.[ond] has left Westminster, and is now at Battersea, intending to remove about a month hence into a house of his own in Cambridge-street near Broad street. William desires you to accept of this Magazine; and to send him in return, if you can, some picture and story, like those from p. 272 .... 277. Mr Benson is well, and so is [Francis Burrell] Massingberd, by whom we were informed yesterday that Dr Uohn] Monro had received a letter from you; by which we had the long-desired satisfaction of hearing that you was well. Mr [William] Drake and his Brother [Thomas] were here last week: the latter has taken orders. Your old acquaintance M! [Samuel Pargiter] Fuller, and intimate with Mr Uohn] Bouverie, fell off his horse in a fit, and died about a month ago, having survived his friend but a short time; and leaving, together with him, a remarkable and double instance of the shortness and uncertainty of human life: of which that you may be continually mindful is the hearty desire, and shall be the constant prayer of [blank] Your most affectionate Father [ 7ir]. P .S As I cannot yet inform you of the principles of the Gentlemen, your own prudence will keep you upon your guard. Your Mother is not unmindful of her blessing, nor others oflove and service. Letter 56 !James Russel, Rome, to Rowland Holt, c. August 1753. Private collection] Statues for Rowland Holt Esq. The fighting Gladiator at The Meleager The Hermaphrodite The Hercules } The Flora The Faun in red marble The Martius The Pudicitia Laocoon Paetus and Arria Villa Borghese at Pal. Pichini at Villa Borghese at Pal. Farnese at the Capitol at the Capitol at Pal. Ginetti at the Vatican at the Villa Ludovisi r figure I 2 I 3 2 r3 .. ·~ LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Letter 57 Oames Russel, Rome, to Revd Richard Russel, IO September 1753. BL Add. MSS 41169, f. 71r] To the rev.cl M: Russel. S th Rome, ept.IO. 1753. Honoured Sir, [blank page] Letter 58 Oames Russel, Rome, to Ralph Howard, Dublin, 25 December 1753. National Library of Ireland, Wicklow MS 38628/9] Irlande To Ralph Howard, Esq. in Dublin Per Angleterre. Statues [ rr] Sir I had the pleasure ofreceiving a letter I from you dated, London Oct. 2. 1752. to which I answered I Jan. 16.'h. since which I have not had that pleasure I repeated, except by your's from Dublin of Nov. 12.th 1753· I tho' if I recollect right you mention'd your intenti- I on of writing soon. Yet I do not pretend to advance I this for an excuse for myself, who ought always I to be beforehand in this particular; which nothing I I assure you occasions, but my continual occupation I as Antiquarian &c. and many calls annex'd thereto. I I took the liberty of drawing a bill on you, for I twenty five Roman crowns, directed to Messrs Crags I e [Samuel Craghead] Knoxhead [Ralph Knox], and advis'd you of the same. On June I 12.'h 1753. I receiv'd a letter from D' Uames] Tyrell, by which he acquainted me that he had receiv'd I one from you, and I had the agreeable news to I hear that you was very much satisfied with the I cargo of virtu I sent you the] anuary before. I The following are the expences laid out on your I account, viz. [ lv] s. P. B. Mar. 20. 1752 Paid to Mr. [Thomas] Patch IO: 3: 0 To the servant Gaetano for posthorses to Tivoli. 4: l: 0 Paid to Carpenter for the boxes of the pictures } &c. and fixing the same 9: 2: 5 To Packer for packing up the same with} [?]eir cloath &c. 6: 8: 0 To Porter's &c. o: 9: 0 To Examiner of the boxes o: 5: 0 For carriage of boxes to Civita Vecchia,} and expences there T 5: 0 Paid M' [Charles] Wiseman for your share of the } concert 2: o: 5 To Ditto for musick sent you 6: l: 5 149 Sept. IO. Paid Mr Wiseman for more musick deli- vered me since You were pleas' d to leave with me, a bill of Another of Jan. 29. _1753 I drew on you for Remains in my hands to be accounted for JASON M. KELLY 4: 52 3 I: 20: 25: 76: 2g,: 9: 5 s: 0 8: 5 o: 0 o: 0 8: s 3: 0 Your statues of the Faun and Apollo are finish' d I and were sent off to Leghorn by Abby [William] Wilkins, together I with your tables about two months ago; who has assur'd I me he inform'd you of the same by letter,68 therefore I I thought it was the less necessary for my writing; tho' I I I [sic] have intended it every post since, in order to give I you the news, that your statues have been extremely [2r] admir'd and prais'd by Gentlemen, and Connoisseurs I from whence no small advantage has accru'd I to Mr [Simon] Vierpyle, by having since had commis- I sions to do the fighting and the dying Gla- I diator, the former for Lord ijames Caufeild, Earl of] Charlemont, and I the latter for Lord [Henry Herbert, Earl of] Pembroke; as likewise se- I veral busts for Lord [Frederick St. John, 2nd Viscount] Bolingbroke, and other I Gentlemen. Mr Patch desir'd me to acquaint I you that he had wrote to you twice, and that he I had receiv' d from you thirty two Roman crowns, I seven pauls, and ten crowns three pauls I from me, out of forty sequins which he was I to have; so that the overplus of your money I which is 24. '· 4. P in my hands is not suffici- I ent to pay him. I have wrote to Mr. [George Seton, 5th Earl of] Winton I but have not yet receiv'd and answer. As to I the Nuptial Aldobrandini, it is but a few I days since that I have got leave to do it af- I ter the greatest difficulty and interest, and I which I shall endeavour to finish as soon I as possible. The Doctor [Tyrrell] and his Lady send I you their compliments, to which I beg / leave to join my good wishes for your I prosperity remaining Sir Your most obedient and Obliged Humble Servant James Russel Rome, Dec. 25th. 1753. Letter 59 [James Russel, Rome, to George Lucy, Charlecote near Kineton, Warwickshire, 12 June 1758. Warwickshire County Record Office, L6/I406] To George Lucy Esq. at Charlcote near Kineton Warwickshire Via d'Ollanda by London [Ir] Sir About a fortnight after you quitted Rome, I some interesting business which requir' d my presence, call' d I me to Florence, and having succeeded to my advantage I I immediately return' d to Rome. However before 150 l :l :l !. I re LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD mY departure, I I took the necessary precautions in reguard to your Commissions; I and I have the satisfaction to inform you, that the Marble I Tables are compleated, and deliver'd, the brass rim's are neatly I finish'd, and give no small additional beauty to them.69 Sig'e I Pompeio [Batoni] has likewise consign'd to me your portrait,70 ~r [Charl~s] Lucy71 I the p.icture of the ~adonna,72 ~ Mr [~~bert~ Mylne. [Gio~an.ni Battista] Pironesi's pnnts I which are bound up m past-board with Raphael s heads, I without the dedicat10n; so that I wait only for the Marble I Busts, and the feather Flower's; to have all your order's I compleat. Two of the Busts are on the finishing hand, I viz. Brutus and Porcia; and according to my judgment I will tum out very good, both in reguard to the marble I and the workmanship; but of these I shall hereafter send I you an account. You must have heard that his Holyness the Pope [Benedict XIV] I made his exit, just after your departure. Perhaps you may [ rv] I imagine, that you lost the opportunity of seeing something very I extraordinary; but I fancy had you been here, you wou' d have been I disappointed in your conjecture; for all Church ceremonies, con-/ sist only in a bow, more or less. The Sede Vacante indeed I has occasion'd a greater stir amongst trades­ men and Artisans I than usual, especially Carpenter's, who have work' d day and I night to build commodious Huts for the Cardinals, into which, I those that resided at Rome have now enter' d; but these I wait for the rest of their Brethren, who are coming from I France, Spain &c. and then it is said, that they will I lay their heads together in earnest for electing a Pope, I under the operations of the Holy Spirit. I hope that I this letter will find you and Mr Uohn] Dobson (to whom I I beg my most hearty respects) arriv'd safe in Old England I and in good health. With the greatest sincerity, I I remain at your commands, Sir Your very Obliged Humble Servant James Russel Rome, June, 2d. 1758 Letter 60 [Revd Richard Russel to James Russel, c. late 1740s. BL Add. MSS 41169, ff. 73r-73v] [Subscription receipt from 1729] 1729. 395 REceived of[blank] the sum of [blank] and on the payment of the like sum, I promise to deliver [blank] copie of Patrum Apostolicorum vera opera, cum Versionibus, & selectis Variorum Notis. Ric. Russel. [73v] [Draft letter, c. late 1740s] prisoner in his own house for several months: his Wife & Daug I hter are well; but when his affairs will be made up, is very uncer- I tain. Your Mother, William, Clemmy, & Kitty are pretty well: but I Clemmy is in the same melancholic way as usual; they all desire your acceptance of their proper expressions of affection. I I desire you to Pray look back upon [?-]2 or 3 of my latest Letters, and take some to iffiSW@r those Queries et\vhich you have taken no notice forgot to take I any notice of several Queries, which you forgot to I answer. By latest Letters, I mean those, which cer I tainly came to your hands, from Your most affectionate I &c. R.R. 151 JASON M. KELLY NOTES 1 BL Add. MS 4u69, f. rr. 2 Fleming, Robert Adam, p. 228; Ingendaay, 'Posso vantanni d'aver un gran Protettore', p. 390. I thank Peter Kerber for the references to the eighteenth-century coinage. Cf. Ford, 'Richard Wilson in Rome. I - The Wicklow Wilsons', p. 161. 3 The page numbering in BL Add. MSS 41r69 begins 'l 8 3 ', suggesting that it was probably the second book ofletters. See Appendix. 4 The edition to which Russel refers is surely a manuscript copy of Venuti, 'Osservazioni sopra un cameo di Mylord Walpole', which he translated in Letters, 2, pp. 75-82. A manuscript copy is in Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Palat. Misc. 2.G.20.2. See also Venuti, 'Dissertazione IX. Sopra due particolari intagli', pp. 173-89. 5 These two inscriptions are part of the so-called Triopium Inscriptions and were sponsored by the family of Herodus Atticus. At the time, they were in a small temple in the Borghese gardens. The first was a hexameter verse discovered along the Appian Way in 1607 CE. It consecrated a site to Pallas Athena and Nemesis. The second, discovered in 1627, was a dedicatory hexameter verse for a statue of Regilla. Visconti, Inscrizione Greche Triopee ora Borghesiane; Salmaise, Duarnm inscriptionum veterum Herodis Attici;Jacobs and Brunck, Anthologia Graeca, vol. 2, pp. 366-83. 6 Letters, 2, pl. II. This is the monument designed by Filippo Barigioni and executed by Pietro Bracci (sculpture), Giovanni Giardini (metalwork), and Pietro Paolo Cristofari (mosaic) for St Peter's Cathedral Rome. It was executed between 1735 and 1742. 7 These drawings are lost. The Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, Rome was near the Palazzo Muti, where the Stuarts lived. 8 [Oldys], 'Made Extempore', p. 133. 9 George Behn was a pseudonym for an individual who had not visited Naples. See Letters, 2, pp. vi-vii. 10 In fact, James had taken two ttips to Naples at this point. The first was in March 1741 Nathaniel Castleton; Henry Fiennes Clinton, 9th Earl of Lincoln, later Duke of New­ castle; and Joseph Spence (Letters, 1, p. 55; Joseph Spence to Mirabella Spence, 25 March 1741, in Spence, Letters from the Grand Tour, pp. 362-<54. The second was with Christopher Fortescue in 1742 (Letters, r, p. 90). It is unclear to which visit Russel is referring, but it is most likely 1741 trip in which the men were in Naples from 5 to 17 March. 11 Letters, 2, pl. III. 12 Marconi, 'Nicola Zabaglia'. 13 This was the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (1628-3 r). See Castelli, e ponti di Maestro Niccola Zabaglia, pl. 19. 14 Jones, A Catalogue ef the Ancient Sculptures, p. 73; Revillas, 'Dissertazione IV. Sopra l'antico piede Romano', p. 118. 15 Venuti, Descrizione delle prime scoperte dell'antica cittil d'Ercolano. · 16 Bolingbroke, Collection of Political Tracts; Ditton, Treatise ef Perspective; Dyer, Ruins of Rome; Grey, Serious Address to Lay Methodists; Hill and Buchanan, Celeberrimi viri Georgii Bucha­ nani paraphrasis poetica in Psalmos nonnu//os Davidis; Jacob, The Statute-Law Common-Plac'd; Johnstoun and Duport, Psalmi Davidici; Kennet, Romae Antiquae Notitia; Lyttelton Lyttelton, Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship ef St. Paul; Ovid, Opera; Parsell, Liturgia; Russel?, A Remarkable Dialogue; Russel, SS. Patrnm Apostolicorum; [Stuart], A Collection of Dying Speeches; A Collection of Declarations, Proclamations, and Other Valuable Papers; Trapp, Explanatory Notes Upon the Four Gospels; Vida, Marci Hieronymi vida? Cremonensis alba? episcopi poemata qUa? extant omnia; A. W., esq., The Enormous Abomina­ tion of the Hoop-Petticoat, Wright, Some Observations Made in Travelling Through France, Italy, &c. 17 The Diario Ordinario, no. 4683, 29 July 1747, p. 17 has 'Genitoris' rather than 'sanguinis'. 18 Diario Ordinario, no. 4683, 29 July 1747, pp. 20-23. There is a painting of Orlandi's work in the National Gallery of Scotland, Prince James Receiving his Son, Prince Henry, in Front ef the Palazzo del Re, c. 1747. Oil on canvas. 195.58 x 297.18 cm. Accession no. PG 3269. 19 Terence, Pub. Terentii Comoedia?. 20 Monument of Princess Clementina Sobieska, 1742. 37 mm. Obv. Bust of Pope Benedict XIV; leg. BENED.XIV. PONT.M.A.III. Rev. Monument to Clementina Sobieska in St. Peter's, Rome; leg. MEMORVE.M.CLEM.BRIT. REGINJE. 21 This refers to the Colurnna Rostrata, also known as the " Colurnna Duilia, which commemorated Caius Duilius Nepos' naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 BCE. The fragment to which Russel refers was discovered in July 1565 and housed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (Musei Capitolini). 22 Letters, r. 23 Letters, 2, pls II-III. 24 The terms of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle banished Charles Edward Stuart from France, and on I I December l 7 48 French authorities seized him and brought him to the border. 25 Venuti, Descrizione delle prime scoperte dell' antica citta d'Ercolano. 26 Ibid. 27 Gori, Notizie de/ memorabile scoprimento dell' antica cittil Ercolano vicina a Napoli. 28 Sappho and Anacreon, Anakreontos Teiou mele. The Duport volume is most likely Duport and Buchanan, Psalmorum Davidicorum. 29 d' Arthenay, Memoire sur la ville souterraine. 30 Venuti, Descrizione delle prime scoperte dell' antica citta d' Ercolano. 31 Russel was probably referring to the 1707 edition, widely available in England: Gruterus, Graevius, and Scalinger, Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani. 32 Gori, Notizie de/ memorabile scoprimento dell'antica cittil Ercolano vicina a Napoli. 33 This print was probably of Charles Edward Stuart or Henry, Duke ofY ork. 34 This portrait is untraced, but the letters suggest that it may have stayed in Rome. 35 See above, n. 4. 36 Letters, 2, pl. VIII. 37 Letters, 2, pl. VII. 38 d'Arthenay, Memoire sur la ville souterraine. 39 Dubreuil, The Practice of Perspective; Echard, Roman History and The Gazetteer's or Newsman's Interpreter; Florus and . Graevius, Lucius Annaeus Florus; de Fourcroy, A New and East'· Method to Understand the Roman History; Gordon, Geography n lS :e )f nt [8 .2. v. ka T. he !US :E. uly 1sei hed . ber the citta The nan, idely nger, citta ,rt or tmay 'iistory .s and d Easy .graphy LETTERS FROM A YOUNG PAINTER ABROAD Anatomiz'd; Miege and Bolton, The Present State of Great Britain and Ireland; Moll, Atlas Minor; Perrault, The Theory and Practice of Architecture; An Historical, Genealogical and Poetical Dictionary. 40 Ultimately, the Russels decided to dedicate the second volume ofletters to Sir John Hynde Cotton, 6th Baronet of Stratton Hall. 41 The first proposals for what eventually became James Stuart and Nicholas Revett' s Antiquities of Athens, vol. l (London, 1763) were circulating in manuscripts as early as 174s. See Antiquities of Athens, vol. r, pp. v-vi for an early version of the proposal. 42 The fourth traveller was to be Matthew Brettingham. 43 The Cocoa Tree was popular with Tories and served as the Jacobite headquarters in the '45. 44 The government often searched the mail of suspected Jacobites, and it appears that the Russel family was aware that they were under suspicion. 45 Florus and Graevius, L. Annaeus Florus; Dubreuil, The Practice of Perspective; de Fourcroy, A New and Easy Method to Understand the Roman History. It is unclear which editions of Cristoph Cellarius' Geographia antiqua or Patrick Gordon's Geography Anatomiz'd: or, The Geographical Grammar Russel sent. 46 King, Oratorio. King's speech at the opening of the Rad­ cliffe Camera at the University of Oxford was pro-Jacobite. 47 Hamond, An Historical Narration of the Whole Bible. 48 Dawkins seems to be referring to Chishull's 'Iter Asia:! poeticum', a supplement to the Antiquitates Asiaticae. 49 Niccolo Marcello Venuti, A Description of the First Discov­ eries of the Antient City of Herculaneum (London: George Woodfall, 1750); Niccolo Marcello Venuti, A Description of the First Discoveries of the Antient City of Heraclea, trans. by Wickes Skurray (London: R. Baldwin, 1750). 50 Garth, The Dispensary, p. r. 51 Bolton, On the Employment of Time; Jonson, Ben Johnson's Jests; Lambert, Collection of Curious Observations; [Stuart], A Collection of Declarations, Proclamations, and Other Valuable Papers; The Magazine of Magazines; London Almanack for the Year 1751. 52 Ameti, fl Lozio and Patrimonio di S. Pietro; Cerruti and De Rossi, Corso del Po; Nolli, Nuova pianta di Roma. 53 Russel, Letter to Mr. Thomas Bigg; Pliny the Younger and Orrery, Letters of Pliny. 54 This was a copy of Lelio Orsi's S. Cedlia e S. Valeriano (c. 1555). 55 Ralph Howard's Escapade (I 7 5 2, private collection). 56 One of four copies after Claude Joseph Vernet. 57 This refers to either the Dandng Faun or Apollino marble copies that Vierpyl completed for Howard. 58 Wilson painted four landscapes, two 'Fryar's heads, a Venus and Satyr, and a Narcissus' for Howard. 59 The bronze was Peter Anton von Verschaffelt's Archangel Michael (1748-52, bronze, Castel Sant'Angelo). Verschaffelt's statue replaced Raffaello da Montelupo's St. Michael (1536, marble, Castel Sant' Angelo). V erschaffelt' s model was Guido Reni's The Archangel Michael Defeating Satan (1636. oil on canvas. 293 x 202 cm. Santa Maria della Concezione, Rome). 60 John Hutton owned a boarding house for students to Westminster. His son, James, was a bookseller and one of the founding members of the evangelical Fetter Lane Society. In 1752, he was the Secretary to the Moravian Church in England. l53 61 Pere de Bree stole 70 guineas from Pitt. See Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 19 August 2010), 25 June 1752, trial of Pere de Bree (t17520625-7). 62 London Evening Post, no. 3 8 50, 20 June 1752. 63 See Wood, 'Raphael Copies'. The commissions were actually for Hugh Smithson-Percy, rst Duke of Northum­ berland, for Northumberland House, London. Horace Mann worked with Cardinal Albani to arrange for copies to be made. He initially entrusted oversight in Rome to Matthew Brettingham, but both Albani and Mann found the young architect difficult to work with. Guilio Romano and his assistants' Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge (Stanze di R'!ffaello, Vatican), completed after Raphael's designs between I 520 and I 524, was not copied for the final project because it was too large for Northumberland House. Cardinal Albani suggested several artists for the project: Pompeo Batoni, Placido Costanzi, Corrado Giaquinto, Agostino Masucci, Anton Raphael Mengs, and Stefano Pozzi (Wood, p. 409). In the end, Costanzi copied Annibale Caracci's Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne (Palazzo Farnese, Rome), completing it in 1754· In 1755, Masucci completed his copy of Guido Reni's Aurora (Villa Rospigliosi, Rome), and Batoni finished copies of Raphael's Banquet of the Gods and Marriage of Cupid and Psyche (Villa Famesina, Rome). The only surviving copy, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is Mengs's copy of Raphael's School of Athens (Vatican, Rome), completed in 1755. 64 This was probably Mark Hudson, a London broker. 65 Harvey, Corfield and Green, Westminster Historical Data­ base. 66 The Act of Attainder of 1746 stipulated that Cameron surrender by 18 April 1746 or face charges of high treason . The Act oflndemnity of 1747 did not extend to those named in the Act of Attainder. In any case, it appears that the gov­ ernment had knowledge of Cameron's involvement in the Elibank Plot of 1752-53, a scheme in which James Dawkins may have also played a role as intermediary with Frederick the Great. 67 Simon Vierpyl completed two tables (120 crowns), six plaster statues (73 crowns, 80 baicchi), and Carrara marble copies of the Dancing Faun and the Apollino, both in the Uffizi (100 crowns). William Wilkins to Ralph Howard, 25 October 1752; Receipt from Simon Vierpyl, 15 February 1752, National Library oflreland, Wicklow MS 38628/9. 68 These were two tables of verde antique still in the dining room at Charlecote. An Historical and Descriptive Guide to Warwick Castle, 6, pp. 19-20. 69 Pompeo Batoni, Sir George Lucy, 1758. Oil on canvas, 132 x 97 cm. Charlecote Park, The Fairfax-Lucy Collection, The National Trust. 7° Charles Lucy was a painter and distant relative of George Lucy. George Lucy had commissioned paintings from Charles as early as 1753. See Charles Lucy to George Lucy, 17 January 1753, Lucy of Charlocotte MSS, Warwickshire County Records Office, L6/ 1378. See also Fairfax-Lucy, Charlecote and the Lucys. 71 This was probably a copy of a 'Virgin and Cupid' commissioned in July 1758. See DBIT, p. 615. 72 The were likely the series of heads engraved by Nicolas Dorigny (1658-1746): Recueil de XC tetes tirees des sept cartons des actes des apotres peint par Raphl. Urbin. On these engravings, see Hsieh, 'Publishing the Raphael Cartoons' . BIBLIOGRAPHY Manuscripts Cited Beinecke Library, Yale University Osborn MS c200, Osborn MS q55/ 4, Osborn MS q55i23, Osborn MS q55/64 Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze Palat. Misc. 2.G.20.2 British Library E.g. MSS 2234, BL Add. MSS 32933, 4u69 Bodleian Library, Oxford University MSS Eng. th. c. 26 Devon Record Office Quicke Papers, 64/12i2I!r!r35 East Sussex Record Office FRE/672 Getty Research Institute I769 Feb. II LoChA National Archives, London, PROB II I 454, SP 98/ 5 I Ir 8, 22 National Archives of Scotland Seafield MSS, GD 248/ 4912 National Library of Ireland Wicklow MSS 38628/9 Oxfordshire County Records Office Oxf. Dioc. Papers e. 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