DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52801#0037
THE ALTIERI CLAUDES.
33
where they soon attracted the notice of one of the
most intelligent connoisseurs of England, who
purchased them along with a few cabinet pictures
of the Italian school, which accompanied them, for
the sum of ten thousand guineas.
These celebrated pictures for a considerable
length of time were the principal ornaments of the
Fonthill collection. They afterwards became the
property of Richard Hart Davis, Esq. M. P. by
whom they were ceded to their present proprietor,
J. P. Miles, Esq. of Leigh Court, near Bristol.
Not having seen these pictures for several years,
the author of this work will not here attempt
to give a particular description of that which has
been considered as the most capital, and which will
be found engraved in the Liber Veritatis as the
Altieri Claude; he shall only here say that it has
always held the same high rank among the land-
scapes of this fascinating master, as the Bouillon
picture purchased by the late Mr. Angerstein, and
now the property of the British nation, has among
his Marine Views; both are chefs-d’oeuvre of
art. The Bouillon Claude possesses a richness of
colouring, and an effect of sunlight on the surface
of the water, which is truly surprising; the Altieri
Claude is, on the other hand, painted in a clear
and silvery manner, with a pure and light atmo-
sphere, through which the eye is carried to an
. VOL. II. D
33
where they soon attracted the notice of one of the
most intelligent connoisseurs of England, who
purchased them along with a few cabinet pictures
of the Italian school, which accompanied them, for
the sum of ten thousand guineas.
These celebrated pictures for a considerable
length of time were the principal ornaments of the
Fonthill collection. They afterwards became the
property of Richard Hart Davis, Esq. M. P. by
whom they were ceded to their present proprietor,
J. P. Miles, Esq. of Leigh Court, near Bristol.
Not having seen these pictures for several years,
the author of this work will not here attempt
to give a particular description of that which has
been considered as the most capital, and which will
be found engraved in the Liber Veritatis as the
Altieri Claude; he shall only here say that it has
always held the same high rank among the land-
scapes of this fascinating master, as the Bouillon
picture purchased by the late Mr. Angerstein, and
now the property of the British nation, has among
his Marine Views; both are chefs-d’oeuvre of
art. The Bouillon Claude possesses a richness of
colouring, and an effect of sunlight on the surface
of the water, which is truly surprising; the Altieri
Claude is, on the other hand, painted in a clear
and silvery manner, with a pure and light atmo-
sphere, through which the eye is carried to an
. VOL. II. D