拍品专文
Langley Park, ten miles east of Norwich, was bought by George Proctor (d. 1744) from the Berney family in 1742. Proctor, a connoisseur and collector who had until then lived in Venice, employed the Norwich architect Matthew Brettingham (d. 1769), who was also patronised by the Earl of Leicester at Holkham Hall, to build him a Palladian villa on his new estates. However, Proctor died two years later, and his estates passed to his nephew William Beauchamp, later Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt. (the family changed their name in 1852 to Proctor-Beauchamop). It was Beauchamp-Proctor who was completed and enlarged the mansion, and who was largely responsible for building up the notable collection of pictures at Langley.
Francesco Zuccarelli underwent his early training in Florence, possibly with Paolo Anesi, and then in Rome with Giovanni Maria Morandi, Pietro Nelli and perhaps Andrea Locatelli. In Rome he was able to absorb the great tradition of European landscape painting, from Claude through to the eighteenth century, and carry these lessons first back to Florence and then to Venice, where he settled in 1732. There he immediately succeeded as a painter of pastoral landscapes enjoying the patronage of illustrious figures.
Francesco Zuccarelli underwent his early training in Florence, possibly with Paolo Anesi, and then in Rome with Giovanni Maria Morandi, Pietro Nelli and perhaps Andrea Locatelli. In Rome he was able to absorb the great tradition of European landscape painting, from Claude through to the eighteenth century, and carry these lessons first back to Florence and then to Venice, where he settled in 1732. There he immediately succeeded as a painter of pastoral landscapes enjoying the patronage of illustrious figures.