Abraham-Louis Rodolphe Ducros

1748 Moudon – 1810 Lausanne

Abraham-Louis Rodolphe Ducros had been active in Rome since 1777, where he had joined forces with the Bassano-born reproductive engraver Giovanni Volpato. He soon made a name for himself as an independent watercolour painter, specializing in rendering the principal sights of Rome, for which he received numerous commissions, mainly from English aristocrats. His successful career came to an abrupt end in 1793, when Ducros – like many practitioners of his craft – was banned from the Papal State because of his republican sympathies. He settled in Naples, where he was to live and work until 1799, serving a cultivated circle of connoisseurs and art lovers, including Sir William Hamilton, the Scottish diplomat, antiquarian and archaeologist, and Sir John Acton, Prime Minister of Naples under Ferdinand IV.