Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino
Encyclopedia
Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino is a landscape
by British artist J. M. W. Turner
completed in 1839. It is Turner's final painting of Rome and had been in the possession of the family of the 5th Earl of Rosebery
since 1878, until the painting came to auction, 7 July 2010. It was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum
, Los Angeles
, and was subject to an export bar to allow a British gallery time to attempt to match the Getty's bid. The painting is now on view at the Getty Center
.
, still called the Campo Vaccino, the "Cow Pasture", shimmering in hazy light and is the last of Turner's twenty-year series of views of the city. It was painted at the peak of Turner's career from studies and sketches made on two visits to the city. Features of Classical, Renaissance
and Baroque
Rome occupy the canvas, but the foreground contains indicators of modern life, including goatherds.
It was first purchased by Hugh Munro
, a friend and patron of Turner, from a Royal Academy
exhibition in 1839. The painting was purchased for 4,450 guineas by the 5th Earl of Rosebery
and his wife, Hannah Rothschild
on their honeymoon in 1878. It was hung in the family's country home, Mentmore Towers
and in their London
residences for a century. In 1978, the painting, which had remained in the family, was loaned to the National Gallery of Scotland
.
auction house said the painting was being sold by a descendant of the 5th Earl of Rosebery to help secure the future of family estates. The painting had been estimated to fetch £18 million. It went on view in Sotheby's New York
auction house from 29 April to 14 May, before returning to London
for the auction. The painting, which is in immaculate condition, has been described by Sotheby's as "undoubtedly among the most important of Turner's works ever to come to auction". It was announced that if the work is sold to a collector who wishes to take it out of Britain, they would have to apply for an export license as part of the national cultural heritage
. A temporary export ban would then be put in place to allow the National Galleries of Scotland
time to raise equivalent money to save the painting for a public collection, though this would not happen if it was sold to a private collector in the UK.
On 7 July 2010, the painting was sold at auction for £29.7 million, which broke the artist's auction record. The painting sold in five minutes and was purchased in the room by the dealer, Hazlitt Gooden and Fox who were acting on behalf of the Getty Museum. The price became the highest paid for a Turner work. The United Kingdom's Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
stated the painting was of "outstanding aesthetic importance" and recommended putting the export bar in place. Culture minister Ed Vaizey accepted this recommendation and put the bar in place on 3 November 2010 to last until 2 February 2011, with a possible extension to 2 August 2011. This was accepted by the Getty, though received with some hostility in the Los Angeles Times
. The bar initially saw little attention in the British press, though one writer for The Daily Telegraph
opposed it.
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
by British artist J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
completed in 1839. It is Turner's final painting of Rome and had been in the possession of the family of the 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
since 1878, until the painting came to auction, 7 July 2010. It was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum
J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is an art museum. It has two locations, one at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, and one at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and was subject to an export bar to allow a British gallery time to attempt to match the Getty's bid. The painting is now on view at the Getty Center
Getty Center
The Getty Center, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, is a campus for cultural institutions founded by oilman J. Paul Getty. The $1.3 billion center, which opened on December 16, 1997, is also well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles...
.
Background
Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino is a landscape vision of the unexcavated Roman ForumRoman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
, still called the Campo Vaccino, the "Cow Pasture", shimmering in hazy light and is the last of Turner's twenty-year series of views of the city. It was painted at the peak of Turner's career from studies and sketches made on two visits to the city. Features of Classical, Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
Rome occupy the canvas, but the foreground contains indicators of modern life, including goatherds.
It was first purchased by Hugh Munro
Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar
Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar was a Scottish art collector.-Life:H.A.J. Munro of Novar was born in London, the nephew of Hector Munro, 8th of Novar, and the son of Sir Alexander Munro . On his father's death in 1809 he became the head of the Munros of Novar and succeeded to the estate of...
, a friend and patron of Turner, from a Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
exhibition in 1839. The painting was purchased for 4,450 guineas by the 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
and his wife, Hannah Rothschild
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery
Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery was the daughter of Mayer de Rothschild and his wife Juliana, née Cohen...
on their honeymoon in 1878. It was hung in the family's country home, Mentmore Towers
Mentmore Towers
Mentmore Towers is a 19th century English country house in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. The house was designed by Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George Henry Stokes, in the revival Elizabethan and Jacobean style of the late 16th century called Jacobethan, for the banker and...
and in their London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
residences for a century. In 1978, the painting, which had remained in the family, was loaned to the National Gallery of Scotland
National Gallery of Scotland
The National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens...
.
2010 auction
In March 2010, it was announced that the painting would come to auction on 7 July 2010. Sotheby'sSotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
auction house said the painting was being sold by a descendant of the 5th Earl of Rosebery to help secure the future of family estates. The painting had been estimated to fetch £18 million. It went on view in Sotheby's New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
auction house from 29 April to 14 May, before returning to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for the auction. The painting, which is in immaculate condition, has been described by Sotheby's as "undoubtedly among the most important of Turner's works ever to come to auction". It was announced that if the work is sold to a collector who wishes to take it out of Britain, they would have to apply for an export license as part of the national cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
. A temporary export ban would then be put in place to allow the National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland
The National Galleries of Scotland are the five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. It is one of the country's National Collections.-List of national galleries:* The National Gallery of Scotland* The Royal Scottish Academy Building...
time to raise equivalent money to save the painting for a public collection, though this would not happen if it was sold to a private collector in the UK.
On 7 July 2010, the painting was sold at auction for £29.7 million, which broke the artist's auction record. The painting sold in five minutes and was purchased in the room by the dealer, Hazlitt Gooden and Fox who were acting on behalf of the Getty Museum. The price became the highest paid for a Turner work. The United Kingdom's Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is a committee of the United Kingdom government, advising the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the export of cultural property...
stated the painting was of "outstanding aesthetic importance" and recommended putting the export bar in place. Culture minister Ed Vaizey accepted this recommendation and put the bar in place on 3 November 2010 to last until 2 February 2011, with a possible extension to 2 August 2011. This was accepted by the Getty, though received with some hostility in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. The bar initially saw little attention in the British press, though one writer for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
opposed it.
External links
- Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino, J. Paul Getty MuseumJ. Paul Getty MuseumThe J. Paul Getty Museum, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is an art museum. It has two locations, one at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, and one at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California...
- Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino at Tate.org