Drawing of the facade of the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, after 1827

Attributed to Unidentified artist

RA Collection: Art

A pencil drawing of the facade of the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, with the 'Horse Tamers' sculpture and obelisk monument on the right.

Sir Thomas Lawrence made an extended visit to Rome in 1819 but the watermark in the paper shows that this drawing dates from 1827 or after and is very unlikely to be his work. However, Lawrence collected and commissioned drawings and views of Rome from fellow artists and the Royal Academy Archive includes several references to this activity. Letters between Lawrence and other artists mention requests for, or presentations of, drawings of the city. One, dated October 1820, specifically mentions a commission to paint "the Palazzo Quirinale by moonlight".

Lawrence's particular interest in the Quirinale is unsurprising given that he lodged there while he was in Rome to paint the portraits of Pope Pius VII and Cardinal Consalvi who occupied apartments in the same palace. Archibald Keightley, in his manuscript list of the drawings in the Lawrence papers, entitles this work "The Part of the Quirinal Palace in which were Sir TL's Apartments".