(1688 - 1730), e. s. of 1st M. of Annandale [S]; sty. Ld. Johnston - 1721 when suc. fa. as 2nd M.; unm.; d. Naples.
1713 see William, 1st Marquess of Annandale
1718 - 20 Padua (9 Jan. 1718), Venice ( - 6 Mar.), Ravenna (Apr.), Rome (Aug. 1718), Bologna (Nov. 1720)
1729 - 30 Rome (30 Apr. 1729 - ), Naples ( - d. 10 Feb. 1730)
Lord Johnston had been abroad in 1713 at the same time as his father (William, 1st Marquess of Annandale), but it is not clear that they were travelling together, or that the son was then in Italy.
In 1718 Lord Johnston went to Italy with a tutor, Thomas Robertson, and was in Padua on 9 January 1718.1 They were to leave Venice on 6 March with Lord Linton, following the Duke of Queensberry to Rome. Although they did not intend to stop along the way, a report at the beginning of April indicated that Lord Johnston had been ill at Ravenna.2 In Rome Johnston sat to Andrea Procaccini (Hopetoun) and he had dealings with the Scottish painter John Alexander who, with Johnston, left some antique marbles for restoration with the sculptor Agostino Cornacchini together with a commission. Johnston was still in Italy in November 1720 when Rawlinson met him at Bologna.3 His father died the following January, and presumably he returned home soon after to succeed as the second Marquess of Annandale.
He is said to have returned to Scotland with one of the largest consignments of objects of art and antiquity ever brought home by a travelling collector, his account book listing over 300 paintings (the artists including Brandi, Maratti, Guercino and Van Wittel) and drawings, besides engravings, books and classical marbles.4 His heir and nephew John Lord Hope (later 2nd Earl of Hopetoun), had purchased some of these works on his own grand tour in 1725 - 6; he shipped three crates back to his uncle in Scotland, which included a large painting and two copies after Brandi by G.B. Benaschi. Annandale had requested as many drawings as he could find by Juvarra (having in mind the facade William Adam was then building at Hopetoun). Lord Hope failed to recover anything from Cornacchini, Annandale guessing that the antiquary Ficoroni had 'a finger in this pie'.
Annandale's final visit to Italy was made when he was fatally ill with consumption. Attended by a Dr Cuningham, he arrived in Rome on 30 April 1729 and was 'going shortly' to Naples.5 He must have written to his nephew of his disappointment in the changes he found at Rome, as Lord Hope wrote to him 'I can easily believe it is much changed to the worse since you knew it first, which I reckon is entirely owing to the British, especially with relation to the virtuosi.'6 He died at Naples on 10 February 1730. Twenty-four years later his younger nephew the Hon. Charles Hope-Weir took the Marquess's Italian note-book with him as his guide to Italy.7
1. Brown 1563. 2. SP 99/62, ff.27, 37 (Cunningham, 4 Mar., 1 Apr. 1718). 3. Rawlinson jnl.MSS (25 Nov. 1720). 4. Skinner, Scots in Italy, 5 - 6. See Fleming, Adam, 8 - 13, 46, 324. 5. SP 85/16, f.534 (Walton, 5 May 1729). 6. Fleming, Adam, 14. 7. Ibid., 107.