The Florentine hotel recommended by Hakewill, was a well-known establishment called the Pensione Schneider which stood near the banks of the river on the Lungarno Guicciardini. It was widely patronised by English travellers to Florence during this period.
2 Lady Lyttelton, who arrived in the city shortly before Turner on 3 November 1819, described how she had found it ‘up to the brim with English, and with difficulty found a place to put our heads in. However, we did at last at Shreydorrf’s [Schneider’s] insinuate ourselves in the still warm dirt of a family who had gone away two hours before.’
3 The hotel had formed the viewpoint for Hakewill’s drawing,
Ponte della Trinità on the Lung’Arno – Florence (British School at Rome Library),
4 which Turner had reproduced as a watercolour,
Florence, from the Ponte alla Carriara circa 1816–17 (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester) for
Picturesque Tour of Italy, published 1820.
5 Other studies of Florence including views from the Palazzo Pitti can also be found amidst Hakewill’s drawings from this time (British School at Rome Library).
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