Forbes, Sir William 6th Bt
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- Forbes, Sir William 6th Bt
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(1739 - 1806) of Pitsligo, banker and author, e. surv. s. of Sir William Forbes, advocate; suc. fa. 1743 as 6th Bt.; m. 1770 Elizabeth Hay (d. 1802); bt. back Pitsligo 1781.
1792 - 3 Venice (1 Nov. 1792), Florence (10 - 23 Nov.), Rome (28 Nov. - 5 Dec.), Naples (7 Dec. 1792 - 25 Mar. 1793), Rome (26 Mar. - 8 May)
Sir William Forbes, an eminent banker, went to Italy when he was past fifty years old for the benefit of his wife's health. They were accompanied by one of their five daughters1 and Forbes described their tour in a journal (Forbes jnl.MSS).
'Although', wrote Forbes, 'we had made a resolution on coming abroad not to purchase either painting or antique', he appears to have been a regular visitor to artists' studios and an occasional purchaser of works of art. In Florence he carefully inspected the British self-portraits in the Uffizi; he bought a drawing of the Young Pretender by Giannini from the artist, though it was 'not a pleasing likeness', (2 Dec. 1792) and had his Newfoundland dog painted by Martin Quadal.
Their first stay in Rome was short, but there was time for Patrick Moir to take them to the house of the Abb? Waters to see his Stuart portraits, and they met Gavin Hamilton, Jacob More and Archibald Skirving. On 5 December they left for Naples, where Forbes visited the studios of the Hackert brothers, G.A. Wallis, Don Tito (Lusieri) and Tischbein, buying some views from Lusieri and four coloured outlines of Etruscan vases from Tischbein. His cicerone was James Clark who had hired them lodgings 'in a large Hotel called the Corcelli, kept by a Frenchman of the name of Rollin', once butler to the Duke of Gloucester. Anna, Baroness Berwick, with her daughters and a Colonel Pelham stayed on the same floor; below them were Mr and Mrs Robert Parker and a Mr and Mrs Jones.
They returned to Rome late in March 1793 and stayed first at Margherita's but, finding this hotel 'small and inconvenient' and 'damp', they moved in April to lodgings on the Corso, just vacated by the Duchess of Ancaster, and near Thomas Jenkins. Forbes continued to use Moir, a fellow Scot, as his banker and cicerone, but this did not prevent him being friendly with Jenkins. Among the less conventional visits with Moir, Forbes described the fine antiquities in the Palazzo Rondinini and the discomfort of climbing from the dome into the lantern and ball on the roof of St Peter's, 'like being in an Oven'; Moir had once dropped a heavy key from his coat pocket while descending the near-vertical ladder, 'a very ugly accident'.
Forbes continued his visits to artists' studios, calling on Canova ('I suppose the first statuary at present in the world'), Zucchi, Flaxman, Hewetson and Angelica Kauffman. His eye was critical, and after seeing portraits by 'Robertson' [Hugh Robinson] he reflected that 'it gave me but a poor opinion of the state of Portrait painting in Rome to find him so much imployed'. He bought drawings by John Moir, Patrick's brother, and an undated invoice for £;128.16 from James Byres2 (who had left Rome in 1790 but Moir carried on his business), suggests further purchases. Forbes evidently enjoyed the social life in Rome, 'we never needed to be at a loss where to spend our evenings', he wrote. Lady Throckmorton introduced them to the Princess Borghese, and Madame Cicciaporci to Prince Augustus and the Princess Santa Croce, Sir William Forbes noting that the latter's family was of Valerian blood [Valerius Publicola]. They received 'the utmost kindness' from the Legards and the Corbets. Again through Lady Throckmorton, they were admitted to a meeting of the Arcadians, in a building 'of no great show or ornament, the walls hung round with old portraits'. On 14 April Forbes attended Anglican communion, commenting that this was the only time 'we had the benefit of being present at Protestant worship', during the whole of our being abroad' (14 Apr. 1793). Lady Forbes's health, which had improved in Naples, declined in Rome, a factor which, with Forbes's business commitments, led to a sudden departure on 8 May 1793.
A collection of drawings formed by Forbes was sold in 1968 (Sotheby's, 28 Mar.), but many were acquired after his return from Italy from the MacGowan collection (sold in Edinburgh in 1804). His eldest son, Sir William Forbes, 7th Bt., made a collection of old master paintings through James Irvine (sold Rainy's, 2 June 1842).3
1. Parker jnl.MSS (Naples, betw. 1 Dec. 1792 - 24 Mar. 1793). 2. Byres MSS (Byres to P. Moir, London, 26 Jul. 1793). 3. See F. Russell, Burl.Mag., 114[1972]:31.