Pompous Pompeo – the Grand Tour at the National Gallery
The National Gallery’s new exhibition showcases the work of Pompeo Batoni – an eighteenth century Italian painter whose speciality was portraits of foreigners ‘doing the Grand Tour’.
One of his sitters wears a spectacular kilt and plaid that quite takes your attention away from the fine Roman ruins against which he is posed. The British tourist away from home was just as easily recognisable in the eighteenth century as he is now!
But even if you’re not particularly interested in eighteenth century tourists, Batoni’s paintings are a fascinating record of what really drove the art world in the eighteenth century. He highlights …read more
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