Portrait of Dr. Thomas Penrose

Louis Gauffier · 1798

Louis Gauffier moved to Rome after the outbreak of the French Revolution but fled in 1793 to escape reprisals against the French following the execution of Louis XVI. He settled in Florence, where he specialized in grand tour portraits. His painting of Thomas Penrose (1769–1851), secretary to the English envoy to the duke of Tuscany, is among his most celebrated. Gauffier portrayed the young Brit as a sophisticated dilettante, with a sketchbook in hand, taking in the landmarks of Florence—the Duomo, Orsanmichele, and Palazzo Vecchio—from a shady corner of the Boboli Gardens. When Napoleon’s troops invaded Florence in 1800, Penrose was forced to return to England. He became a vicar but kept this exquisite memento of his Italian years his whole life.