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Lot Essay
Lucius Licinius Lucullus (110 BC-157 BC), a Roman politician and general, famous for his victories over Mithridates VI, became synonymous with sumptuous living both during his lifetime and after it, the term 'Lucullan' used as an epithet for excessive luxury. In the first century BC, the Bay of Naples was important as a naval trading centre, but also as a resort for Rome's most influential citizens. Lucullus acquired a large estate in Miseneum along the northern border of the Gulf of Naples, set in lavish gardens, and they soon were fabled even amongst his contemporaries, Plutarch writing in Luculls, chapter 37, how 'the chambers and galleries, with their sea-views, built at Naples by Lucullus [were made] out of the spoils of the barbarians'. Lucullus spent most of his retirement in ostentatious refinement at the villa, but eventually sold it to the Emperor Tiberius.
With the advent of Neoclacissism and the Grand Tour through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the ruins of the villa of Lucullus became an essential site when touring Naples, and the subject of literary and artistic vision.
The present work can be viewed as a masterpiece in the oeuvre of William Leighton Leitch. Although he predominantly chose to work in watercolour, the Glaswegian artist had begun his career as a scene painter at the Glasgow Theatre Royal, acquiring the skill to work theatrically on a vast scale, as exemplified in the present work. He later studied in Italy, where he was likely to have visited and sketched the site of Lucullus's villa at Miseneum.
Leitch was Vice-President of the Royal Institute for Painters in Watercolours for many years, following his election in 1862, and tutor in watercolours to Queen Victoria as well as numerous other members of the Royal Family. Following his death, two sales of the artist's works were held at Christie's on 13 march and 17 April, 1884.
With the advent of Neoclacissism and the Grand Tour through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the ruins of the villa of Lucullus became an essential site when touring Naples, and the subject of literary and artistic vision.
The present work can be viewed as a masterpiece in the oeuvre of William Leighton Leitch. Although he predominantly chose to work in watercolour, the Glaswegian artist had begun his career as a scene painter at the Glasgow Theatre Royal, acquiring the skill to work theatrically on a vast scale, as exemplified in the present work. He later studied in Italy, where he was likely to have visited and sketched the site of Lucullus's villa at Miseneum.
Leitch was Vice-President of the Royal Institute for Painters in Watercolours for many years, following his election in 1862, and tutor in watercolours to Queen Victoria as well as numerous other members of the Royal Family. Following his death, two sales of the artist's works were held at Christie's on 13 march and 17 April, 1884.