In the Park of the Villa Negroni in Rome
  • Jean-Simon Berthélemy
  • Laon 1743 - 1811 Paris
  • In the Park of the Villa Negroni in Rome, ca. 1770
  • Red chalk on paper
  • 490 × 403 mm
Provenance:
René Withofs, Brussels
Private collection, Brussels

In 1767, Jean-Simon Berthélemy won the sought-after Prix de Rome and moved to the most famous académie outside of France. There he captured his impressions of Roman palaces and gardens in large-format drawings, mostly in red chalk.

Other fellows of the académie, such as Hubert Robert and Honoré Fragonard1 had sketched in the impressive park of the Villa Negroni, near the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, before him.

Berthélemy himself also drew the statue shown here in the middle of an avenue of cypresses from the opposite direction (Fig.1), a view almost identical to those drawn by Pierre Adrian Pâris2 and François-André Vincent between 1771 and 1774.

  1. Sale Millon & Associés, Paris, Nov. 23, 2007, lot 80
  2. Pierre Adrien Pâris: Vue de la Villa Negroni à Rome, 1771-1774
    red chalk, 445 x 328 mm, Bibliothèque Municipale de Besançon,
    inv. no.: Fonds Pâris, vol. 480, no. 80 um 1770 , ca. 1770