Henry Hoare II, also known as Henry Hoare 'the Magnificent', was a merchant banker, patron of the arts and landscape designer in the mid 18th century. As the owner of Stourhead, Wiltshire, Hoare laid out the landscape gardens there to reflect the traditions of classical landscape painting by Claude and Dughet.
In 1758, Hoare purchased 'a landscape' from Wilson and another in 1760 described as 'Lake Avernus', each costing £30. It has been suggested that the former painting was P127A The Lake of Nemi or Speculum Dianae, The Trustees of Jane, Lucy and Charles Hoare, Stourhead, Wiltshire, National Trust. Confusingly this was sold by Hoare’s descendants in 1883 and acquired subsequently by another branch of the Hoare family (see Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 127).
