Two women in the Roman theatre of Tusculum Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:Tusculum is one of the largest Roman cities in Alban Hills. The ruins of Tusculum are located on Tuscolo hill—more specifically on the northern edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano... , pencil drawing by Arthur John Strutt, 1859

Arthur John Strutt (Chelmsford

Chelmsford

Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...

, 1819 – Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, 1888), was an English painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, engraver, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, travel

Travel

Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...

ler and archeologist. He was the son of the landscape painter Jacob George Strutt

Jacob George Strutt

Jacob George Strutt was an English landscape painter and engraver in the manner of Constable. He was the husband of the writer Elizabeth Strutt, and father of the painter, traveller and archeologist Arthur John Strutt.-Life:...

 (1790–1864) and the writer and traveller Elizabeth Strutt

Elizabeth Strutt

Elizabeth Strutt , also or previously known as Elizabeth Byron, was an English writer and traveller. She was the wife of Jacob George Strutt and mother of Arthur John Strutt, and an acquaintance and critic of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whom she describes as having written "two of the most absurd...

.

After travelling across Italy, in 1831, in retinue of his father, he moved to Rome, where he definitively established is residence. He travelled with his father in France and Switzerland from 1835 to 1837, and later in Italy.

In 1841 he travelled on foot through central and southern Italy and in Sicily. He and his friend, the poet William Jackson, otherwise unknown, started from the Porta San Giovanni

Porta San Giovanni (Rome)

Porta San Giovanni is a gate in the Aurelian Wall of Rome, Italy, named after the nearby Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano.-History:It is made up of a single grand arch built for pope Gregory XIII in "opera forse" by Giacomo della Porta or, it is argued, Giacomo del Duca, who had collaborated...

 of Rome on 30 April 1841, reaching Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

 on 15 December, and arriving back at Rome in July of the following year. An account of this journey is given in his A Pedestrian Tour in Calabria & Sicily published in London, in 1842.

In 1849 Arthur John Strutt and his father had a studio at 52, via del Babuino, an address found both in the Roman Advertiser and, for Mrs. Strutt, in the address-book of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...

. In 1853 his studio was at 33, via del Mercede; he is described as "a very clever painter of landscapes and Roman costumes, and author of an interesting work on Calabria". In 1869 his studio was at 20, via di S. Basilio, and the description reads: "a very clever painter of landscapes, scenery about Rome, and groups of Roman peasantry and cattle; he has produced some large subjects of the Campagna, of its aqueducts, and the scenery along the Via Appia ... he is the author of an interesting work on Calabria". In 1881 the address is 81, via della Croce, and the description largely unchanged.

Art works

Many of his paintings are of subjects from the Campagna Romana. A celebrated one depicts a meet of the Roman Hunt with King Umberto I. His sketchbooks are in the Huntington Library in San Marino

San Marino, California

San Marino is a small, affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. Incorporated in 1913, the City founders designed the community to be uniquely residential, with expansive properties surrounded by beautiful gardens, wide streets, and well maintained parkways...

, California.

Archeology

From 1881 until his death in 1888 Strutt was an honorary inspector of antiquities at Lanuvium

Lanuvium

Lanuvium is an ancient city of Latium , some 32 km southeast of Rome, a little southwest of the Via Appia....

, on the recommendation of Rodolfo Lanciani

Rodolfo Lanciani

Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani was an Italian archaeologist, a pioneering student of ancient Roman topography, and among his many excavations was that of the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum....

; he was made an honorary citizen of the modern town of Lanuvio

Lanuvio

Lanuvio is a comune in the Province of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 30 km southeast of Rome, on the Alban Hills.Lanuvio borders the following municipalities: Aprilia, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Velletri.-History:...

 and elected to the Consiglio comunale or town council. His descriptions of Latin inscriptions in the area were published in the scientific periodical Notizie degli scavi di antichità of the Reale Accademia dei Lincei and elsewhere.

Published works

• A Pedestrian Tour in Calabria & Sicily London: T.C. Newby 1842 Full text on archive.org, on Google Books
• Guido Puccio (ed.) Calabria Sicilia 1840 Naples: Edizioni scientifiche italiane 1970

Strutt became editor of the weekly Roman Advertiser, the first English-language paper of Italy, in succession to the founding editor, the Irish antiquary Charles Isidore Hemans

Charles Isidore Hemans

Charles Isidore Hemans was an English antiquary.Hemans, youngest son of Felicia Dorothea Hemans, poet, was born in 1817. He was a handsome boy and the especial favourite of his mother...

 (1817–1876). 106 issues of The Roman Advertiser: Journal of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts appeared between 24 October 1846 and 21 April 1849; it was published on Saturday evenings by the Monaldini bookshop at 79, Piazza di Spagna, and cost 5 baiocchi

Baiocco

The baiocco is an ancient Italian currency denomination largely used in Central Italy, especially in Latium. The origin of the name is uncertain. Its value was originally equivalent to a shilling, slowly changing through centuries into five quattrini, or consequently twenty pennies...

.