Lot 58: ROBERT MCINNES

ROBERT MCINNES BRITISH 1801 - 1886 METASTASIO, AS A CHILD, IS DISCOVERED BY GRAVINA SINGING EXTEMPORANEOUS VERSES IN THE STREETS OF ROME signed Rob M c Innes. and dated 1853. (lower center, on the stone step) oil on canvas 43 3/4 by 38 1/8 in. 111.1 by 96.8 cm

London, Royal Academy, 1853, no. 608

Margaret E. Tarr

Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (1698-1782), better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist. Metastasio was born in Rome, and when still a child attracted crowds by reciting impromptu verses on any given subject. In 1709 the youth's life was changed forever by Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, a particularly admiring member of the audience. Gravina, a renowned lawyer and scholar, was so compelled by the Metastaskio's recitation that he not only stopped to listen to the verse but latter adopted him. Gravina gave Pietro the name Metastasio and provided the foundation for his brilliant future career as most important writer of opera seria libretti.