John Francis Rigaud, R.A.

Commissioned by John Boydell (1720–1804), London;
With Sir W. Middleton;
By whom sold, London, Christie’s, 26 June 1835, lot 35 for £7.7s. to Rutley;
Private collection, Italy;
From whom acquired by the present owner.

S.F.D. Rigaud, 'Facts and Recollections of the XVIIIth Century in a Memoir of John Francis Rigaud Esq, R.A.', in Walpole Society, vol. L, London 1984, pp. 94, 153.

This Allegory of Peace was commissioned from Rigaud in 1794 by Alderman Boydell, who was an engraver, publisher and patron of the arts. Boydell had commissioned a series of frescoes depicting allegories of Happiness, Innocence, Wisdom and Providence that Rigaud had executed for the corners between the arches under the dome of the Common Council Chamber at Guildhall in the City of London, and had kept the angular oil sketches in his own possession.¹ In 1797 Boydell wanted to commission four engravings of the allegories at Guildhall to be dedicated to King Geroge III and Queen Charlotte for the celebration of the 40^th anniversary of their reign.² In order to have the compositions engraved, Rigaud was asked to revisit his allegories and produce four paintings of the same compositions as the frescoes, but rectangular in shape. Rigaud apparently took this opportunity to turn the Allegory of Happiness into a representation of peace, replacing a bunch of grapes in the outstretched hand of the putto on the right with a green olive branch, and including a small bonfire of broken weaponry at the right edge of the composition.

These four canvasses were considered lost until the emergence of this lot. Until today, Rigaud’s allegories had been known only through the oil sketches and the engravings commissioned by Boydell, as the frescoes were also lost. The only other trace of the four canvasses is a record of their sale in London in 1835. The present painting is recorded as lot 35, one of a pair along with the Allegory of Innocence. The two other allegories, Wisdom and Providence, were sold as a pair in the next lot for five pounds to Clarkson. Both pairs were listed as once belonging to Sir W. Middleton. The present painting, and its pair, is recorded as being bought in the 1835 auction by Rutley – likely to be the art dealer John Lewis Rutley (d. 1839).

1. The four sketches are now in the Guildhall Art Gallery, London. See Rigaud 1984, reproduced figs 58–61.
2. The four allegories were engraved by Thomas Burke, and published by J. & J. Boydell, 29 September 1799.