POMPEYA || Christa Zaat

Christa Zaat



William Parrott (British painter and lithographer) 1813 - 1869
General View of the Forum of Pompeii from the Triumphal Arch, ca. 1846
oil on canvas
50 x 90 cm. (20 x 35 in.)
signed and inscribed l.l.: W. Parrott/ Pompeii

Catalogue Note Sotheby's
When the present picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846, the catalogue included the following notation; 'General View of the Forum of Pompeii from the Triumphal Arch. It was considered the most perfect specimen of an ancient forum extant; it was excavated between the years 1813 and 1822; it had suffered from the earthquake of the year 63, and at the period of the fatal eruption, sixteen years after, was being reconstructed with greater magnificence. The forum was the most public place of resort in Pompeii. Around it are the remains of its once sumptuous temples, its treasury, its law tribunals, its religious colleges, etc. Stone measures fitted into the recess in the wall of the area, indicate the market place of this most commercial city of Campania.'

Parrott travelled extensively in Europe painting the famous landmarks and as he had been trained by John Pye, the engraver, his paintings have wonderfully accurate detail. His style and subjects are similar to those of his contemporary David Roberts. He exhibited his work from 1835 at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Society of British Artists and continued to exhibit until his relatively early death in 1869.