Arthur John Strutt

Who was Arthur John Strutt?

Arthur John Strutt, was an English painter, engraver, writer, traveller and archeologist. He was the son of the landscape painter Jacob George Strutt and the writer and traveller Elizabeth Strutt.

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 of Rome on 30 April 1841, reaching Palermo 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. 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.