Lot 21: John Skelton (1735-1759)

View of Ariccia, Italy pencil, pen and grey ink and grey, brown and ochre wash 13 x 143/4 in. (33 x 37.4 cm.) PROVENANCE Thomas Blofeld, Hoveton House, Norfolk, acquired in the second half of the 18th century and by descent to Thomas Calthorpe Blofeld, to 1909. Anon. sale; Sotheby's, London, 8 April 1998, lot 20. with Spink-Leger, London 1998. NOTES The work of Jonathan Skelton was virtually unknown until 1909 when a collection of eighty-four drawings and watercolours from the Blofield collection appeared on the market. Many of the drawings were inscribed and dated and from these and a few letters we can follow Skelton's movements before and after he left for Italy. Skelton arrived in Rome at the end of 1757 or early 1758 and died in the city on 19 January 1959 when at Albano near Genzana. In June 1758 Skelton painted a watercolour entitled 'A Monastery between Ariccia and Genzano' and the present drawing probably also dates from around this time.