Samuel Palmer, R.W.S

Possibly A.H. Palmer, the artist’s son,

probably, London, Christie’s, 24 May 1909, part of lot 112 (bt. Gooden Fox),

sale, London, Christie’s, 18 March 1935, lot 39 (bt. Meatyard)

R.H. Shillito,

with The Ruskin Gallery, London,

sale, London, Sotheby’s, 14 November 1991, lot 163,

where acquired by the present owner 

London, Society of Painters in Water Colour, 1845, no. 159 

C. Peacock, Samuel Palmer: Shoreham and After, London 1968, pl. 12;

R. Lister, Samuel Palmer: A biography, London 1974, pl. 18;

R. Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer, Cambridge 1988, no. 397 

This watercolour, which Palmer exhibited in London in 1845, depicts the celebrated cypress trees of the Villa d’Este, with the water organ to the right and a distant view of Rome visible beyond. A related watercolour, which shows the scene viewed from slightly further to the left, is held in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.¹

Samuel Palmer was captivated by the Villa d'Este, which he visited with his wife Hannah during their two-year journey in Italy between 1837 and 1839. Writing to his father-in-law - John Linnell - on 13^th November 1838, he described the villa in enthusiastic terms: 'The Villa D’Este is enchantment itself – the grounds are small but have work for months. Michelangelo built the house and his inspiring angels seem to have laid out the gardens and designed the fountains.²

The Villa d’Este itself was constructed in 1549 to designs by Pirro Ligorio for Ippolito II d'Este, the son of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara.

^1.R. Lister, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer, Cambridge 1988, p. 133, no. 333

^2.R. Lister, The Letters of Samuel Palmer, vol. I, London 1974, p. 236