(1727 - 80) of Stalbridge Park, Dorset, and Bury Hill, Dorking, Surr.; 2nd s. of Paget Walter; m. Hon. Harriet Forrester, dau. of 5th B. Forrester [S]; MP 1754 - 74.
1769 - 71 Florence (by 30 Sep. - 11 Nov. 1769), Naples (by May 1770), Rome ( - Apr. 1771), Loreto, Bologna (May), Venice (May)
Walter went to Italy with his wife and daughter Harriet (c.1754 - 86, later Lady Grimston) to acquire works of art for his new house at Dorking.1 They were probably in Florence from September to November 1769 (a Mr 'Ugualter' / 'Valter' was listed there on 30 September and 11 November),2 when they were expected at Naples.3 There his daughter sat to Glain for a pastel portrait dated 1769 (Gorhambury) and they were still in Naples in May 1770, when Patrick Brydone enjoyed a 'hearty dinner with many of our friends at Mr Walter's, ... drinking plentifully of his excellent burgundy'.4 They were next in Rome, where Matthew Nulty acted as their cicerone and agent. Since Walter subsequently gave Nulty £180 'for his kindness to us while at Rome and on our journey to Paris 1771',1 the partnership was evidently successful.
Walter's acquisitions included a cinerary urn (called the tomb of Menelaus), some bronzes and three ancient vases (of which two were bought from Piranesi), and he bought two chimneypieces from Piranesi for Bury Hill.5 Piranesi later dedicated seven plates to Walter and his wife in his Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi [1778], one of the dedications paying particular tribute to Walter's taste. Less expected were gifts of works of art from the Pope; after granting them an audience, Clement XIV gave young Harriet an Elsheimer Mercury and Battus and her father his bust by Hewetson (Gorhambury).1 On 10 June 1771 Nulty submitted an account for paintings by Veronese (a Venus and Adonis) and Salvator Rosa (Theseus and Aethra), with three Gaspard Dughets, a small Claude and a cameo ring.1
The Walters left Rome in April 1771, going to Loreto and Bologna, where Lord Fortrose (who then aspired to the hand of young Harriet, see Lord Fortrose, 1744 - 81) was to meet them, before arriving in Venice for Ascension.6 At Venice, James Byres reported in May, the Walters were 'obliged to stay until a Mr North has cured all their servants who are now laid up not with the effects of devotion during their winter quarters in [Rome]'.7
Among the pictures listed at Gorhambury c.1800 were 'Fabrice. Two Neapolitan Friars' [probably Pietro Fabris] and 'Dean. A large landscape after Claude Loraine' [doubtless Hugh Primrose Dean],8 both possibly acquired during the tour in Italy.
1. See Verulam 1935, 294 - 6. 2. Gazz.Tosc.. 3. SP 105/319, f.709 (Hamilton, 4 Nov. 1769). 4. Brydone, Tour through Sicily and Malta, 1:17. 5. W. Rieder, Burl.Mag.,
117[1975]:582 - 91 (they are now at Gorhambury). 6. Add. 51315, f.12 (Fortrose, 16 Apr. 1771). 7. Byres letters MSS c (20 May 1771). 8. Note by RBF.