Spiridione Roma

Spiridione Roma (1737–1781) was an Italian painter, best known for his work in England.

"The East offering its riches to Britannia"

Biography

He was born in Corfu; then a territory of the Republic of Venice. Little is written about his biography and training. He is best known for an allegorical ceiling piece, The East Offering its Riches to Britannia (1778), commissioned by the East India Company for the Revenue Committee Room in the East India House in London.[1] The painting generally represents the era's panegyric to Britain's imperial and colonialist domination; it is now in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. A reproduction is held in the British Library in London. Other works in British National Trust collections include An Illusionistic Gothic Patron's Pew, in the Extension of the Chapel (c.1769/1771).[2]

References

1. Gentleman's Magazine 48 (1778), 628-29.
2. The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, page 492.