Allegorical Tomb of King William III of Great Britain

An Irish actor and theatrical impresario, Owen McSwiny (1676-1754) moved from Ireland to London at the end of the seventeenth century¹. Involved with a number of important theatres in the city, including Drury Lane and the Haymarket, McSwiny managed theatres, produced and adapted plays, translated libretti from Italian into English, brought Italian singers to London, and commissioned scenery painters for the plays and operas. In 1713, he went bankrupt and fled to the Continent, where he remained based for the next twenty years, living in Paris, Amsterdam, Leiden, Vienna, Bologna, Rome and, mostly, Venice. There, he became involved with the art market and, in the 1720s, devised the series of the Tombs of the British Worthies.

McSwiny clearly was thinking of ways in which to commission large and important works of art in Italy for a British audience. In 1723, he was planning a set of six paintings on the «Duke of Marlborough’s Triumph» for William, 1^st Earl Cadogan, but nothing seems to have come of the plan². In the early months of 1719, McSwiny had envisioned another ambitious scheme, one that seems to have progressed in 1721, when he met Charles Lennox, Lord March (1701-1750) in Venice. March was Cadogan’s son-in-law and, in 1723, after his father’s death, became 2^nd Duke of Richmond. The idea may have originated as a speculative venture by McSwiny, but, by December 1723, it had developed into a series of twelve large canvases to be painted «for His Grace of Richmond»³.

As recorded by Tancred Borenius in 1936, the cycle of canvases «aimed at the glorification of a number of famous characters in recent or contemporary English history: and the form which this glorification took was the devising, in each case, of a wholly imaginary tomb – for one, or several people – the composition being further enlivened by figure-subjects of symbolical significance»⁴. The complex concept underwent a number of changes over the years – in scale, format and patronage – and seems to have never been fully completed⁵. The twenty canvases that were eventually painted were never displayed in a single location, as McSwiny initially intended. The original plan was to create a series of large canvases, each of which would commemorate a great British man (or group of men) of recent times but deceased. In the mid-1730s, with the project losing momentum, McSwiny decided to produce a volume with engravings after the paintings. Circulated around 1734-1735 to promote a subscription system for the volume of prints, his undated pamphlet – To the Ladies and Gentlemen of Taste in Great Britain and Ireland – defined the plans for the cycle⁶. In the leaflet, the author described the «Monuments of the British Monarchs, the valiant Commanders, and other illustrious Personages, who flourish’d in England about the End of the seventeenth, and the Beginning of the eighteenth Centuries» and how «in each Piece is plac’d a principal Urn, wherein is supposed to be deposited the Remains of the deceas’d Hero. The Ornaments are furnish’d partly from the Supporters and Arms of the respective Families; and the Ceremonies supposed to be perform’d at the several Sepulchres, as well as the Statues and Basso-Relievo’s, allude to the Virtues, to the Imployments, or to the Learning and Sciences of the Departed»⁷. All those celebrated in the paintings were supporters of the United Kingdom’s 1688 Glorious Revolution, which saw the ascent of William of Orange (1650–1702) as King of Great Britain. The most extraordinary aspect of these paintings was that McSwiny conceived that «the Figures, the Landskips, the Buildings, and other Ornaments, are painted by different Hands; yet the Harmony of the whole is so well preserv’d, that each Picture seems to be the Work of one great Master». Paradoxically, this large cycle, meant to celebrate Whig politics and the Protestant succession to the English throne, was destined for the Duke of Richmond who supported the cause, notwithstanding his being the grandson of a Stuart, Catholic king. Richmond’s father, Charles Lennox, 1^st Duke of Richmond (1672-1723), was the illegitimate son of King Charles II (1630-1685). All the canvases were to be painted by Italian artists, creating a further contradiction, as pointed out by Rosemary Baird: «the scheme was an extraordinary mixture of a Protestant message executed by Catholic artists from Italy»⁸. By the mid-1730s, twenty canvases had been completed. McSwiny planned four more that, as far as is known, were never painted. The pictures were all intended for the dining room at Goodwood House, the Duke of Richmond’s country seat in West Sussex, but only ten of them were ever installed there⁹.

McSwiny’s plan involved about fifteen Italian painters, from Venice and Bologna, who were to produce canvases of roughly the same format, mostly vertical and with arched tops. Three artists were at work on each piece, one in charge of the architectural elements, one of the landscapes and one of the figures. In some cases, however, only two artists were involved and in others up to four. All the existing canvases were painted in either Venice or Bologna. It is clear, however, from McSwiny’s letters that, halfway through the project, he considered having more of the Tombs painted in Rome and Naples, but this never came to pass. By 1726, four canvases had been completed and sent to Richmond in England: the Tombs of Charles Sackville, 6^th Earl of Dorset (by Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Pietro Paltronieri il Mirandolese and Giovanni Battista Cimaroli), Joseph Addison (by Donato Creti, Carlo Besoli and Nunzio Ferraioli), William Cavendish, 1^st Duke of Devonshire (by Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, fig. 1), and of Sir Cloudesley Shovell (also by Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, fig. 2)¹⁰. Another two had been finished but were not yet delivered: those of John Somers, 1^st Baron Somers (by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Antonio Canal il Canaletto and Cimaroli, fig. 3) and of Thomas Wharton, 1^st Marquess of Wharton (by Creti, Besoli and Ferraioli). Nine more were being worked on at that time: the Tombs of Archbishop Tillotson (by Pittoni, Canaletto and Cimaroli), James, 1^st Earl Stanhope (by Pittoni, Domenico and Giuseppe Valeriani, and Cimaroli), Sydney, Earl of Godolphin (by Francesco Monti, il Mirandolese and Ferraioli), Charles Spencer, 3^rd Earl of Sunderland (by Creti, il Mirandolese and Ferraioli), John Churchill, 1^st Duke of Marlborough (by Creti, Besoli and Ferraioli), Charles Montagu, 1^st Earl of Halifax (by Creti, Gioseffo Orsoni and Ferraioli), Robert Boyle, John Locke and Thomas Sydenham (by Creti, Besoli and Ferraioli), Lord Cowper and Chief Justice Holt (by il Mirandolese and Ferraioli) and of King William III (by Monti, the Valeriani brothers and Cimaroli). By 1726, the full plan was for fifteen Tombs for Richmond.

The first mention of the Allegorical Tomb of King William III of Great Britain is in a letter of 8 March 1726, in which McSwiny wrote to the Duke of Richmond about the painting «which is to be at The End of The Room is dedicated to the Memory of King William, and will make a most noble picture: In this piece, I design to introduce His Majesty King George: The Price & Princesse of Wales, with ye rest of the Royal Family, as receiving the Coronation oath &c. from The Bishop of Canterbury attended by the Prime Minister &c.». In the same letter, he informed the duke that «King William’s: perspective by Two Brothers of The Roman school (Valeriani) & the Landskip by Cimaroli; both finished: Figures (not finished) by Francesco Monti»¹¹. During the year, McSwiny must have changed his mind as to which artist was supposed to paint the figures in the Tomb. On 18 October of that year, he travelled to Verona to entrust the commission to Antonio Balestra: «I set out the Evening to Verona, to put one of these pieces into the hands of Signor Balestra, who (if I am not very Much deceived) will execute my intentions exceedingly well»¹². On 1 November, McSwiny provided further information: «I am just returned from Verona, and have Emplyed Signor Antonio Balestra to paint The Figures in the piece dedicated to the Memory of King William &c. He, most certainly, will make a very fine picture of it, but cannot begin to work upon it till next spring, having other work upon his hands»¹³. Between 1726 and 1727, it seems that the duke was trying to convince McSwiny to have the figures in the Allegorical Tomb of King William III painted by Neapolitan artist Francesco Solimena. McSwiny, however, believed that the painter, as a good Catholic, would refuse the commission¹⁴. A year later, on 31 October 1727, McSwiny reported that the painting was at an advanced stage:

«The Monument &c. to King William &c. will be one of the finest pictures that has been painted, in Italy, These fifty years. The Architecture is in The, True, Roman Gusto, & Exceedingly well painted, by The Signori Valeriani, whom I recommended to the Service of Messieurs de L’academie in my letter of the last week. The Figures are, almost, bozzoed, or Sketched out: and The design is one of The Noblest I, Ever, saw (being an Heroick compliment to The present Royal Family.) But I hope your Grace will Excuse the concealment of The author’s name (though of the very first rank) on a political account relating to The Execution of My other pieces &c. Cimaroli is to paint The Landscape. When it is finished I will forward it to your Grace, and as I told you, formerly, so I, now, confirm it, again, that it shall be intirely, at your, own, Election to take it, or leave it, should it answer or not answer in Expectations. It will cost a good Summe of Money, but as it is (as it ought to be) at the head of the collection of our Heroes I resolve to spare, neither pains, nor Expence, to finish it compleatly»¹⁵.

It seems that while the Valeriani brothers and Cimaroli had completed the architecture and landscape, Balestra was still working on the figures, and McSwiny had not yet disclosed to Richmond that it was going to be the Veronese painter and not Solimena who was going to paint them. At the same time, McSwiny added two further tombs to the scheme, those of King George I and Sir Isaac Newton, both of whom had died that year¹⁶. A month later, on 28 November 1727, McSwiny promised the duke that «by the First opportunity» the Allegorical Tomb of Archbishop Tillotson would be sent from Venice together with «The, large, one to King William &c. to compleat your apartment at Goodwood». A description of the canvas followed:

«a, most, noble piece to The Memory of King William (though not painted by Solimene, or Donato Creti) & The story (though I made some secret, of it, in my last letter) is managed after the following Manner. In The first place, There is, a, most, Noble Monument, adorned with Lions, unicorns &c. In a Nitch, beneath it, is placed a Stature, representing liberty &c. and underneath This, again, is a Battle, in Basso rilievo &c. – Now to The Figures. I suppose Arch Bishop presenting The Bible to His present Majesty King George 2^nd who lays his hand, upon it, (kneeling in a, very, graceful attitude) and seems to say that He accepts of The Crown, upon The, Same, Conditions, that King William came to it. He is attended by The Prince of Wales, Prince William, & The young Princesses (all, most, beautifully drawn) with several other Figures proper to The Solemnity. The architecture is painted, in The Grand Gusto, by The Two Valerianis: and Some of The Figures, are already, Egregiously, Sketched out, by Antonio. Balestra, of Verona. I speak, thus, boldly because I have seen what pleases me, beyond measure, and what is cryed up, to The Skies, by every body that has seen The picture: In short it will be, prodigiously, fine, and I ame persuaded, That you will think it exceeds any that you have, yet, Seen. When The picture is a little, more advanced, I will send your Grace, a drawing of it»¹⁷.

A few weeks later, on 5 December, McSwiny was reassuring the duke: «Be in no pain about the piece, to The Memory of King William, for I will answer, with my life, that I will send you one that shall please you, exceedingly, and be of universal Taste»¹⁸.

It seems the completion of the painting kept being delayed: on 27 February 1728, McSwiny was explaining that «That to The Memory of King William &c. is in great forwardnesse, and is prodigious Noble, and, veramente di buon Gusto» and promised that it would be ready to be sent soon «so that your appartment at Goodwood will be compleatly furnished»¹⁹. The Tomb was, however, still being painted: on 3 April, McSwiny reported: «I am, just, returned from Verona & have seen your picture to King William &c. bozzoed – or what we call in England, dead coloured»²⁰. And, by 14 May, it seems that McSwiny was still responding to the duke’s complaints that he had not engaged Solimena for the canvas: «I am sorry That you lament That Solimene has not done That to King William & Queen Mary, but I ame p[er]suaded That you will be of another opinion, when you see how Noble a piece is made, for you, by Balestra The Two Valerianis, and Cimaroli»²¹. More than a year later, on 27 May 1729, McSwiny wrote from Venice to Richmond: «Balestra’s picture to the Memory’s of King William & Queen Mary is in great forwardnesse, & I hope will, before the Summer is over, be intirely finished, & I think, & hope, will be to your Satisfaction»²². By 1 October 1729, Balestra had almost completed his part, and McSwiny was writing to Richmond that «When that to the Memory of King William is dry enough to rowl, Balestra will send it to me, & Then the Valeriani and Cimaroli will retouch their parts of it»²³.

The Allegorical Tomb of King William III was probably completed around 1730, although there is no supporting documentary evidence for this. By the time McSwiny published his pamphlet – To the Ladies and Gentlemen of Taste – in the mid 1730s, the painting seems to have been finished. By that date, only ten Tombs had been installed at Goodwood House: those of William III, George I, Devonshire, Wharton, Addison, Dorset, Tillotson, Stanhope, Cadogan and Godolphin²⁴. The Duke of Richmond owned another one – that of Shovell – but it had been displayed in his London house. The remaining nine (Somers, Sunderland, Marlborough, Halifax, Cowper, Newton, Torrington, Argyll and Boyle, Locke and Sydenham) were never purchased by the Duke of Richmond but seem, instead, to have been sold to another British aristocrat, Sir William Morice. In 1741, McSwiny published the volume of prints he had tried to find subscribers for with his pamphlet. In the 1730s, McSwiny was in Paris on a number of occasions, and the typographic project was executed there and published as the Tombeaux des Princes [des] grands capitaines et autres hommes illustres, qui ont fleuri dans la Grande-Bretagne vers la fin du XVII & le commencement du XVIII siècle²⁵. Only nine of the twenty paintings – William III, Boyle, Locke and Sydenham, Newton, Dorset, Tillotson, Marlborough, Shovell, Godolphin and Cowper – were engraved and illustrated, based on drawings by Domenico Maria Fratta. The print of the Allegorical Tomb of King William III, engraved by Nicolas Tardieu (fig. 4) was the first to appear in the volume, accompanied by a quotation from Virgil’s Georgics (I, vv. 500-01): «Everso Missus succurrere Saeclo» (sent to restore the ruins of the age), a plea to the gods to support the young king in saving the ruined world of Britain after the Stuart monarchy. In the print, Balestra, the Valeriani brothers and Cimaroli are also named as the painters of the piece. The volume also includes further engravings linked to the subjects of the Tombs. A print designed by François Boucher and engraved by Louis Surugne (fig. 5) also commemorates King William III in the volume. A group of female allegorical figures (including Charity, Justice, Fame and Truth) surmount a cartouche near which cupids are holding a coat of arms with the patron saint of England, George slaying the dragon, and a lion and unicorn. At the centre of the cartouche is the inscription: «GUILLELMI III. / LIBERTATIS ANGLICAE / VINDICIS / MEMORIAE IMMORTALI» (To the immortal memory of William III, the champion of English liberty).

In 1747, George Vertue recorded in his notebooks what he saw «in the dineing room the ground floor» at Goodwood House²⁶. He also included a sketch (fig. 6) in his notebook. The wall of the entrance into the dining room – facing the wall with windows into the garden – had the large, horizontal Tomb of King George I by Francesco Imperiali. The two long walls had five paintings on the right and four on the left, flanking the fireplace. Vertue described the one «in Honor of King William 3^rd – Statue of Liberty crown & Scepter. many figures architecture Balestra Veronese pinx.» The other eight listed by Vertue in the room are Devonshire, Wharton, Addison, Dorset, Tillotson, Stanhope, Cadogan, and Godolphin and two overdoors by John Wootton. The dining room at Goodwood, however, was redecorated in the 1790s, and the Tombs were moved to the staircase of the house. The paintings remained at Goodwood until 26 March 1814, when Charles Lennox, 4^th Duke of Richmond (1764-1819), sold nine of the canvases at auction at Christie’s in London²⁷. The Allegorical Tomb of King William III is most likely lot 47, misattributed as by Pittoni: «A grand Allegorical composition of Architecture, Landscape and figures».

The large vertical canvas has an arched top, like the others in the series. At some point, the top of the arch was slightly cut down. The architecture in the canvas is by the Valeriani brothers, who were also to work on the Tomb of Sir Isaac Newton. The setting is composed of two triumphal arches with fluted pilasters and Corinthian columns, joined at their corners. They are both partially ruined and decorated with sculptures of emperors and reliefs with military trophies. Beyond the arch to the left is a portico with Doric, fluted columns, and a stone pyramid is in the back. The imaginary tomb of William III is under the arch to the right. At its top are two pairs of stone unicorns and lions (the heraldic animals of the British royal coat of arms) supporting a cushion, over which are the crown and sceptre. At its base is the name of the king (GVLIELMO . III) inscribed in stone. The main part of the monumental tomb is made of a structure with pairs of marble columns decorated with urns. At its centre is a marble statue of Liberty surmounted by a round relief with a rampant lion. The figure of Liberty fully corresponds to the description of the allegory in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, the standard Italian text on the subject:

«A woman dressed in white holds a sceptre in her right hand, a hat in her left, and a cat on the ground. The sceptre signifies the authority of Liberty, and she holds power over herself, Liberty being an absolute possession of mind, body, and possessions, which through various means are moved towards the good; the mind by the grace of God, the body by virtue, and the possessions by prudence. She is given the hat, as we said, because when the Romans wanted to give freedom to a slave, after having shaved his hair, they made him wear a hat, and this ceremony was performed in the temple of a goddess believed to be the protector of those who acquired freedom, who was named Feronia; therefore she is reasonably depicted with the hat. The cat loves freedom above all, and therefore the ancient Alans, the Burgundians, and the Sumerians, according to Methodius, depicted it in their insignia, demonstrating that as the said animal cannot tolerate being confined by the force of others, so they were very most intolerant of servitude»²⁸ .

Below the statue of Liberty is a horizontal relief depicting an ancient battle. This may be a general reference to William III’s victory in the Glorious Revolution or may refer to a specific event. Tancred Borenius suggested that it may be the Battle of Boyne (1690) in Ireland, the decisive victory for William III and the Protestant forces²⁹.

Giovan Battista Cimaroli painted the trees to the sides and in the background. He had previously worked and was to work on the landscapes of four other Tombs: those of Somers, Tillotson, Dorset and Stanhope. Of the twenty Tombs, this was the only one Balestra worked on and the only one of the series sent to Verona from Venice for the figures to be added. A number of figures in the painting are purely decorative, such as those in the background, beyond the arch and above the portico, and the soldier in red, seated on the ruins at bottom left, as well as the other military figures to the right edge, one of them emerging with a standard. For the most part, the figures are dressed all’antica. None of them is identifiable as a portrait, but we know who they are meant to represent from McSwiny’s description in his pamphlet of around 1735. A bishop, wearing a golden chasuble and a mitre, is seated under the relief of a battle. He holds an open Bible in his lap, and behind him is an attendant who carries a gold, royal staff. To the right is a boy who presents a red cushion over which a crown and sceptres are placed. The bishop is most likely an Archbishop of Canterbury, though which one cannot be determined. In front of him, a man in a blue mantle is taking an oath on the Bible, while pages hold his cloak, and his hat on another cushion. Another man – crowned and in armour and a red cloak – stands to the right. McSwiny writes that the kneeling man is the current king, George II (1683-1760), accepting the crown and taking his oath under the tomb of his predecessor. The man on the right is Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751). At the bottom of the stairs are five princesses, daughters of the king – Anne (1709-1759), Amelia (1711-1786), Caroline Elizabeth (1713-1757), Mary (1723-1772) and Louisa (1724-1751) – and a young boy, another prince, William, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), who appears younger than his sisters even though he was older than the last two. McSwiny had originally planned to include King George I with «The Price & Princesse of Wales, with ye rest of the Royal Family, as receiving the Coronation oath &c. from The Bishop of Canterbury attended by the Prime Minister &c.», but George I died in 1727, so he depicted the new monarch with his family instead³⁰.

Five of the twenty Tombs of the British Worthies (King George I, Tillotson, Godolphin, Halifax and Cadogan) are nowadays in private collections. One – that of the Earl of Dorset – was, unfortunately, destroyed in a fire at Hinton Ampner, in 1960. The remaining fourteen are in public collections. Five of them remain in the United Kingdom: Somers at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Newton at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Devonshire at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham, and Wharton and Addison belong to the British Government and are on loan to the residence of the British Ambassador in Rome, Villa Wolkonsky. Another six are in Italy: four (Marlborough, Locke, Boyle and Sydenham, Argyll, and Cowper) at the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna and two (Torrington and Saunderland) in the collection of the Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna. The remaining two are in public collections in the United States: Shovel at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and Stanhope at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. After the Richmond sale of 1814, the Allegorical Tomb of King William III was purchased on 7 April 1926 by the German dealer Julius Wilhelm Böhler in Munich as an «Archway, Pope in niche with many people Allegory of William III of England Inscription Gulielmo III»³¹. Böhler purchased the canvas from the art dealer Anthony Francis Reyre (1882-1955) in London, with an attribution to Vittorio Bigari. Later, according to Böhler’s papers, the painting had an attribution to Giovanni Paolo Panini, before being rightly returned to Balestra, Valeriani and Cimaroli. In 1932, Walt Arslan published the painting as belonging to Böhler in Munich³². On 4 October 1935, Böhler sold the painting to George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942), and the canvas returned to England. When Tancred Borenius published the painting in 1936, he stated, «it has since been acquired by H.R.H. the Duke of Kent»³³. It is unclear where the Duke of Kent displayed the painting. When he died in a plane crash, on 25 August 1942, the painting was inherited by his widow, Marina, Duchess of Kent (1906-1968). The canvas is mentioned among the works of art collected by the duke in his obituary in The Burlington Magazine³⁴. The duchess sold the painting at auction in London on 14 March 1947, where, according to an annotated copy of the catalogue, it was purchased by Leger. Subsequently, the canvas was in the collection of Yolanda Eleta de Fierro (d. 2020) in Madrid and sold at her posthumous sale, in Paris, on 21 May 2024.