Lot 46: PIETRO FABRIS

THE PROPERTY OF SIR PETER MOORES, CBE DL, REMOVED FROM PARBOLD HALL DOCUMENTED IN NAPLES 1756 - 1804 PAESTUM, A VIEW FROM THE WEST WITH THE TEMPLES OF POSEIDON AND CERES oil on canvas 77 by 130 cm.; 30 1/4 by 51 1/8 in.

The temples of Paestum became a source of inspiration for painters in the 18th century who quickly saw the commercial potential in the depiction of the ruins for English Grand Tourists. Fabris is known to have painted Paestum on other occasions, for example his Interior of the Temple of Hera at Paestum at Compton Verney.1 The same warm light bathes the ruins in both paintings and the same nostalgia for the past dominates the mood. Paestum was a Graeco-Roman town south of Naples founded at the end of the seventh century BCE. Originally the town had been called Poseidonia, in honour of the Greek god of the sea whose temple can be seen on the left. The temple to the right, also built in the Doric style, is dedicated to Hera, goddess of fertility. 1. See X. Salomon in Compton Verney, London 2010, p. 28, cat. no. 7, reproduced in colour.