Oil on canvas, 26.5cm by 37cm. In a carved and gilded frame. Signed l.r.: FL. A pair to PIC481.
The painting was purchased by John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700), whilst on the Grand Tour and appears in the 1688 Burghley Inventory.
The later 1763 Inventory records: ‘The Japan Closet….Venus & Adonis, Phillipo Laura.’
Filippo Lauri, the son of a Flemish landscape painter, was born in Rome, where he remained active for most of his life.
Amongst other things, he frequently painted small-scale figures in the canvasses of Claude Lorraine.
He was one of the principal artists patronised by the earl who bought several of his works.
