4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Portico of the Palace of Octavia

Artist Robert Weir (American, 1803-1889)

CultureAmerican

Date1874

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions33 1/2 x 50 3/4 in. (85.1 x 128.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 41 x 58 x 3 1/8 in. (104.1 x 147.3 x 7.9 cm)

InscribedSigned: "Robt. W. Weir, 1874" L.L.

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.947

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 214

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting, framed. It depicts a marketplace in Rome. The focus of the painting is on a family; the woman and child sit on a donkey while a man in brown clothing approaches them. Roman buildings and architecture are seen in the background.

Label TextRobert Weir American (1803-1889) Portico of the Palace of Octavia, 1874 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.947 In the early 19th century, Rome was the destination for many young American painters eager to learn the tenets of classical Roman and modern Italian art. One such traveler was the New York painter Robert Weir, who visited Rome during his stay in Italy in 1824-27. Painted many years later in New York, the Chrysler's Portico of the Palace of Octavia presents a colorful slice of 19th-century Roman street life-a bustling open-air market. Weir exhibited the painting in 1874 at the National Academy of Design in New York. Provenance...Parke Bernet, New York City; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum of Art, 1971. Exhibition HistoryNational Academy of Design, New York, New York, 1874. (Exh. cat. no. 212). "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. (Exh. cat. p. 145). "Robert Weir: Artist and Teacher of West Point," Cadet Fine Arts Forum, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, Oct. 22 - Nov. 29, 1976. (Exh. cat. no. 79). "William Cullen Bryant, The Weirs and American Impressionism," Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn, New York, April 24 - July 31, 1983. (Exh. cat. p. 28). "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "The Weir Family, 1820-1920: Expanding the Traditions of American Art," Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, November 17, 2011 - May 19, 2012; New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut, June 30 - September 30, 2012; Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, October 20, 2012 - January 20, 2013. Published ReferencesDennis R. Anderson. THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICAN ART IN THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1976: p. 145. Holly Joan Pinto. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, THE WEIRS AND AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM. Roslyn, New York: Nassau County Museum of Fine Art. 1983: pp. 7-8, no. 28. William L. Vance. AMERICA'S ROME. 2 Volumes. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1989: Vol. 2; pp. 156-157. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., with essays by William H. Gerdts, Erica E. Hirshler, Fred S. Licht, and William L. Vance. THE LURE OF ITALY: AMERICAN ARTISTS AND THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE, 1760-1914. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts and Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated. 1992: pp.214-215, fig. 1.