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Canaletto (1697–1768)
Ruins of the Forum, Looking towards the Capitol, c. 1742
Oil on canvas
Height: 188 cm (74 in). Width: 104 cm (40.9 in).
Royal Collection, Windsor Castle
From the low viewpoint the temple of Castor and Pollux in the foreground is higher than the towers of the Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill behind and all are neatly linked together by the angle of the temple of Saturn in the middle distance. The many chimneys, often Venetian in character, accentuate the painting’s vertical accent. As the market place and then the political, religious and civic centre of Rome, the Forum was the heart of the ancient city. The temple of Castor and Pollux, built in honour of the twin heroes in 484 BC, was rebuilt many times, the last in 6 AD. The temple of Saturn was one of the most ancient sanctuaries in the Forum, perhaps inaugurated as early as 498 BC. More
Canaletto, byname of Giovanni Antonio Canal (born Oct. 18, 1697, Venice—died April 20, 1768, Venice) Italian topographical painter whose masterful expression of atmosphere in his detailed views (vedute) of Venice and London and of English country homes influenced succeeding generations of landscape artists.
Canaletto was born into a noble family whose coat of arms he occasionally used as a signature. How he came to be known as Canaletto is uncertain, however; perhaps the name was first used to distinguish him from his father, Bernardo Canal, a theatrical scene painter in whose studio Canaletto assisted. More
Canaletto's early works remain his most coveted and, according to many authorities, his best. One of his early pieces is The Stonemason's Yard (1729, London, the National Gallery) which depicts a humble working area of the city.
Later Canaletto painted grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the Doge's Palace. His large-scale landscapes portrayed the city's pageantry and waning traditions, making innovative use of atmospheric effects and strong local colors. For these qualities, his works may be said to have anticipated Impressionism. More
Michele Pace, called Michelangelo del Campidoglio, ROME 1625 - 1669
VIEW OF THE TORRE DELLE MILIZIE IN ROME, WITH A MAN STANDING UNDER AN ARCH
Pen and brown ink and wash, over black chalk, within partial brown ink framing lines;
bears old inscription and attribution, verso: In amphiteatrum In roma / de Gaspr Ochialj and dated: 1608
384 by 264 mm
The Torre delle Milizie ("Tower of the Militia") is a fortified tower in Rome, located between the Trajan's Market in the Imperial fora to the east and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum to the west.
It gained the popular nickname of "Nero's Tower" from a tradition that it originated as an ancient Roman construction from which Emperor Nero watched the Great Fire of Rome – this is derived from the classical account that he watched from a tower in the Gardens of Maecenas.
The actual construction of the tower probably dates to the time of Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) under the Aretino family. At the end of the 13th century, the tower was fortified, enlarged and strengthened, probably rivalling with Castel Sant'Angelo as Rome's main fortress. At the end of the 13th century, when Henry VII of Luxembourg came to the city for his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor (May–June 1312), he chose the Torre delle Milizie as the base for his Guelph supporters. Twenty years later the tower was ceded to the Conti. During their ownership, Raphael, in his role as curator of the antiquities of the city, cited the tower as an example of an edifice built re-using antique parts. The Conti held the tower until 1619, when it was acquired by the nuns of the neighbouring convent of Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli.
In 1911, the tower was declared an Italian National Monument. More
Michele Pace del Campidoglio (1610-1670), was an Italian painter of fruit and flowers. Pace del Campidoglio was born in Rome in 1610. He was a scholar of Fioravanti, and was called 'Di Campidoglio' from an office he held in the Campidoglio, or Capitol, at Rome. There was a fine picture by him in the collection of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim, and many others are to be found in England. He died in 1670. More
Hubert Robert (1733–1808)
Architectural Capriccio with the Port of Ripetta and the Pantheon, 1760
Pen and ink with wash and watercolor over chalk on paper
Hubert Robert (1733–1808)
View of Ripetta, c. 1766
View of the Port of Ripetta in Rome
Oil on canvas
Height: 119 cm (46.9 in). Width: 145 cm (57.1 in).
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
The Port of Ripetta in Rome was built in 1703 under the rule of Pope Clement XI and was designed by the architect Alessandro Specchi. The port was built on top of a steep muddy bank (the very word Ripetta means little bank) which was already being used for the unloading of small commercial ships traveling to Rome down the Tiber River. At its height the Port of Ripetta was quite busy but did not last very long; its usage and popularity had already waned by the later part of the eighteenth century. By the time of the unification of Italy, river trade had declined and Rome’s population was growing, therefore there was a greater need for additional bridges to span the Tiber. The port was completely dismantled in 1889, less than 200 years after it was built. More
Robert’s majestic fantasy combines recognizable structures from different eras and different locations in Rome: the ancient Pantheon, dedicated in 126; the curved staircase built in 1705 in the Ripetta, the city’s port on the Tiber River; and, at left, part of the magnificent façade of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, designed in the sixteenth century by Michelangelo. This painting secured Robert admittance to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. His first completed version of the composition is the watercolor from 1760. More
Hubert Robert (22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808), was a French painter, noted for his landscape paintings and Capriccio – picturesque depictions of ruins. More
Hubert Robert (1733–1808)
Archaeologists at the Temple of Vespasian, 1762
The figures assiduously taking notes on the ruins are apparently amateur archaeologists. Their inclusion here acknowledges the newly burgeoning enthusiasm for studying, recording, and restoring the ancient ruins of Italy. Nearly buried in sediment over time, the forty-six-foot-high columns of the Temple of Vespasian (dedicated in 87 to the deified Roman emperor) were not fully excavated until the nineteenth century. Eighteenth-century scholars therefore had easy access to the very top of the structure. More
Hubert Robert, (1733–1808)
The Discoverers of Antiquities, c. 1765
Oil on canvas
Musée de Valence
The archaeological fervor of the eighteenth century is embodied in this image of a torch-bearing guide eagerly revealing Rome’s ancient secrets to his wealthy and cultivated foreign client. The rustic figures at the entrance to the site are perhaps less fascinated by the splendid find than by the preoccupation of the educated classes with such excursions. Typically for Robert, the image combines accuracy and fiction. The statue of a captive barbarian warrior is recognizable as one then in the Capitoline Museum in Rome; the arcaded gallery recalls the Colosseum; and the pyramid in the distance is identifiable as the tomb of the ancient Roman magistrate Gaius Cestius. These relics, however, were never within visible distance of one another. More
Hubert Robert, (1733–1808)
Stair and Fountain in the Park of a Roman Villa, c. 1770
Oil on canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
This monumental work represents a summit in the artist’s experimentation with the subject of gardens. The immense vessel in the lower left corner, known as the Borghese Vase (now at the Louvre), is a much-admired ancient Greek artifact discovered in Rome in the sixteenth century. The enchanting setting was inspired by the celebrated terraced gardens and fountains at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, but the fanciful arrangement is an improbable feat of architecture and engineering that sprang entirely from the artist’s own imagination. More
Hubert Robert, (1733–1808)
The Ponte Salario, c. 1775
Oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington
The Ponte Salario, also called Ponte Salaro during the Middle Ages, is a road bridge in Rome, Italy, whose origins date back to the Roman period. In antiquity, it lay outside the city limits, 3 km north of the Porta Collina, at the point where the Via Salaria (modern SS4) crossed the Aniene, a tributary of the Tiber. The visible side arches are assumed to originate from the first stone structure built during the 1st century BC.
It battered by Napoleonic troops, who tore down the balustrade, including the ancient inscription. In 1829, the medieval tower was demolished, and in 1849 the bridge was cut on a length of 15 m by French soldiers. In 1867, the bridge once and for all lost its historical character, when papal troops blew up the central arch. The Ponte Salario was reconstructed in its current form in 1874, with the roadway widened in 1930. More
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778)
Ponte Salario over the Aniene river, Date 1754–1760
Engraving
The bridge was then still located outside of the city limits of Rome, Italy.
Giovanni Battista (also Giambattista) Piranesi (4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric "prisons" (Le Carceri d'Invenzione).
Piranesi was born in Mogliano Veneto, near Treviso, then part of the Republic of Venice. His father was a stonemason. His brother Andrea introduced him to Latin and the ancient civilization, and later he was apprenticed under his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi, who was a leading architect in Magistrato delle Acque, the state organization responsible for engineering and restoring historical builings.
From 1740 he had an opportunity to work in Rome as a draughtsman for Marco Foscarini, the Venetian ambassador of the new Pope Benedict XIV. He resided in the Palazzo Venezia and studied under Giuseppe Vasi, who introduced him to the art of etching and engravingof the city and its monuments. Giuseppe Vasi found Piranesi's talent was beyond engraving. According to Legrand, Vasi told Piranesi that "you are too much of a painter, my friend, to be an engraver." More
Giovanni Paolo Panini, PIACENZA 1691 - 1765 ROME
ROME, A VIEW OF THE FORUM LOOKING TOWARDS THE CAPITOL
Oil on canvas
57.8 x 94 cm.; 22 3/4 x 37 in.
The view is taken from the Arch of Constantine looking northwards to the Capitoline Hill. The painting shows from left to right the corner of the façade of Santa Maria Liberatrice (demolished in 1899); immediately beyond it is the Temple of Castor and Pollux, its ruins formed of three columns surmounted by a section of architrave; further away, to the left of the tree-lined avenue, is the Fountain of Juturna, where horses and riders gather to drink; in the background, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill stand the ruins of the Temple of Saturn. The Arch of Septimius Severus punctuates the centre of the composition. Here it meets the Via Sacra, the main street of ancient Rome, which recedes to this point, accentuating the painting’s emphatic perspectival axis. Through the arch, steps lead to the Capitol. There, the tower of the Palazzo Senatorio, by far the tallest landmark on the skyline, stands out from the mass of buildings. The Piazza del Campidoglio is obscured from view but adjacent to it is the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, its pinkish walls strongly lit by the afternoon sun; just visible from the back is the silhouette of its stark façade. To the right of the Arch of Septimius Severus, protruding above the trees, is the dome of the Church of SS. Luca e Martina. On the far right of the painting Panini has depicted the imposing vaulted structure of the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine. More
Giovanni Paolo Panini or Pannini (17 June 1691 – 21 October 1765) was a painter and architect, who worked in Rome and is mainly known as one of the vedutisti ("view painters"). As a painter, Panini is best known for his vistas of Rome, in which he took a particular interest in the city's antiquities. Among his most famous works are his view of the interior of the Pantheon (on behalf of Francesco Algarotti), and his vedute—paintings of picture galleries containing views of Rome. Most of his works, specially those of ruins, have a fanciful and unreal embellishment characteristic of capriccio themes. In this they resemble the capricci of Marco Ricci. Panini also painted portraits, including one of Pope Benedict XIV.
Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714 - 1789
Ponte Rotto in Rome
Oil on canvas
64 x 85.5 cm
Louvre Museum, Paris
The Pons Aemilius (Italian: Ponte Emilio), today called Ponte Rotto, is the oldest Roman stone bridge in Rome, Italy. Preceded by a wooden version, it was rebuilt in stone in the 2nd century BC. It once spanned the Tiber, connecting the Forum Boarium with Trastevere; a single arch in mid-river is all that remains today, lending the bridge its name Ponte Rotto ("Broken bridge"). More
Claude-Joseph Vernet (born Aug. 14, 1714, Avignon, France—died Dec. 3, 1789, Paris) was a French landscape and marine painter whose finest works, the series of 15 Ports of France (1754–65), constitute a remarkable record of 18th-century life.
The son of a decorative painter, Vernet worked in Rome (1734–53), finding inspiration both in the expansive, luminous art of the 17th-century French master Claude Lorrain and in the dramatic and picturesque work of the 17th-century Italian painter Salvator Rosa. Vernet’s shipwrecks, sunsets, and conflagrations reveal an unusually subtle observation of light and atmosphere. With his compatriot Hubert Robert, he catered to a new taste for idealized, somewhat sentimentalized landscapes. After returning to Paris he became a member of the French Royal Academy and was commissioned by King Louis XV to paint the port series. The decline in his later work is attributed to overproduction. The family tradition of painting was maintained by his son Carle Vernet and his grandson Horace Vernet. More
Gaspar van Wittel (1656–1736)
View of the River Tiber with the Ponte Rotto and the Aventine Hill, c. 1680s
Oil on canvas
Height: 23 cm (9.1 in). Width: 44 cm (17.3 in)
Caspar van Wittel or Gaspar van Wittel (1652 or 1653, Amersfoort – September 13, 1736, Rome) was a Dutch painter who made a career in Rome where he played a pivotal role in the development of the genre of topographical painting known as veduta. More
Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714 - 1789
A Sporting Contest on the Tiber at Rome, c 1750
Oil on canvas
99.1 x 135.9 cm
The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London
The Bridge and Castle of Sant' Angelo in Rome are in the background. The jousting contest has not been identified with any particular occasion.
Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714 - 1789
A Sporting Contest on the Tiber at Rome, c 1750
Detail
Portraits of Vernet and his wife are said to be included in the picture, presumably the elegantly dressed couple on the right in the foreground. In 1745 Vernet had married Carlotta Cecilia Virginia Joachina (born 1728), daughter of Mark Parker, an Irish Catholic living in Rome.
Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714 - 1789
A Sporting Contest on the Tiber at Rome, c 1750
Detail
Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714 - 1789
A Sporting Contest on the Tiber at Rome, c 1750
Detail
Commissioned by the Marquis de Villette in 1749, and one of several pictures by Vernet which he owned. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1750.
Giovanni Paolo Panini (1692–1765)
Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments, c. 1735
Oil on canvas
39 × 53.5 in (99.1 × 135.9 cm)
Indianapolis Museum
Panini was a famed painter of capriccios, architectural fantasies. In this case, he combined a staggering array of monuments by Romans without regard to topography. From left to right, he included the Temple of Hadrian, the Pantheon, the Temple of Vesta, the Maison Carrée, and the Theater of Marcellus, all of them surrounding the Obelisk of Thutmose III. In front of this overabundance of history, he placed the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, around which contemporary Roman peasants carry out their business.
While quite cavalier with regards to geography, Panini was remarkably faithful in his architectural reconstructions. He carefully edited out later additions to the original buildings, such as the walled-in sections in the arches of the Theater of Marcellus and Bernini's bell towers on the Pantheon's pediment. More
Giovanni Paolo Panini or Pannini, see above
Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691–1765)
Capriccio of Roman Ruins with the Colosseum, 1737
Oil on canvas
36.8 x 69.2 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Giovanni Paolo Panini (1692–1765)
Palazzo Montecitorio, c. 1747
The building was originally designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the young Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV. However, with the death of Gregory XV by 1623, work stopped, and was not restarted until the papacy of Pope Innocent XII, when it was completed by the architect Carlo Fontana. The building was designated for public and social functions only due to Innocent XII's firm antinepotism policies which were in contrast to his predecessors.
In 1696 the Curia apostolica (papal law courts) was installed there. Later it was home to the Governatorato di Roma (the city administration during the papal period) and the police headquarters. The excavated obelisk of the Solarium Augusti, now known as the Obelisk of Montecitorio, was installed in front of the palace by Pius VI in 1789. More
Giovanni Paolo Panini or Pannini, see above
Eugen Napoleon Neureuther, MUNICH 1806 - 1882
HOUSES IN ROME, NEAR SANTISSIMA TRINITÀ DEI MONTI
Oil on artist’s board mounted on cardboard
52.5 x 75.5 cm.; 20 3/4 x 29 3/4 in
Likely painted from the window of the artist’s lodgings in Rome, the composition depicts the towers of Santissima Trinità dei Monti at the top of the Spanish Steps and the other buildings of the quarter. Executed with a plein air adherence to the realities of light and shadow on stone and tile, and without any ideal viewpoint or central focus to the composition. More
Eugen Napoleon Neureuther (13 January 1806 – 23 March 1882) was a German painter, etcher, and illustrator. Born in Munich, Germany, he was the son and pupil of the painter Ludwig Neureuther (1775–1830). He also studied at the Munich Academy . His talent developed, however under the influence of Cornelius, who employed him on the frescoes in the Glyptothek and in the Königsbau. His illustrations for Goethe's romances and ballads with marginal drawings, published in 1829-39, made his reputation. More
Giovanni Paolo Panini (Italian, Piacenza 1691–1765 Rome)
Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti, ca. 1756–58
Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, watercolor, over graphite
Dimensions:13-11/16 x 11-9/16 in. (34.8 x 29.3 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) are a set of steps, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top.
The monumental stairway of 135 steps (the slightly elevated drainage system is often mistaken for the first step) was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy, and the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France, both located above — to the Holy See in Palazzo Monaldeschi located below. The stairway was designed by architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi. More
GIOVANNI PAOLO PANINI
View of the Campidoglio, Rome, 1750
Oil on canvas
46 4/5 × 49 1/2 in, 118.8 × 125.7 cm
Piazza del Campidoglio is one of Rome's most beautiful squares, designed in the sixteenth century by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1536–1546, and laid out between two summits of the Capitoline Hill, the most important of Rome's fabled seven hills.
GIOVANNI PAOLO PANINI
View of Saint Peter's Square, Rome
Oil on canvas
46 4/5 × 48 1/2 in
118.8 × 123.2 cm
The Piazza S. Pietro shows the piazza much as it appears today, apart from the absence of Valadier's late eighteenth-century clocks on the towers. Bernini's colonnade (1656-1667), both ends of which are visible, reaches out its arms to embrace the viewer. In the center of the piazza is the obelisk moved by Sixtus V in 1586 from the left side of the church where it had formed part of the Circus of Nero. On either side are two fountains, the one on the right by Carlo Maderno (1613) and the one on the left created to match it by Carlo Fontana in 1677. Beyond is the rectangular forecourt to the church, the piazza retta, leading to the façade by Maderno, completed in 1610, and the dome by Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. To the right of the façade the roof of the Sistine Chapel is just visible, followed by the Cortile di S. Damaso, the palace of the Swiss Guards and the palace of Paul V. A Cardinal is being driven in a carriage across the piazza at the right in the direction of the Borgo Nuovo and Ponte S. Angelo with his blue-liveried retinue and subsidiary carriages. More
Ippolito Caffi, (1809-1866)
The Pantheon, Rome
oil on canvas
9 1/4 by 12 1/4 in.; 23.5 by 31.1 cm
The Pantheon (temple of every gods) is a building in Rome, on the site of an earlier building commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD. He retained Agrippa's original inscription, which has confused its date of construction.
The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).
It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs", but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda". The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state property. More
Ippolito Caffi (1809–1866) was an Italian painter of architectural subjects and seascapes or urban vedute. He was born at Belluno. His first works were produced at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice. By 1830, he had won awards for his vedute at the Academy. He subsequently moved to Rome, made some reputation by his treatise on perspective, as well as by his investigations on Roman archaeology. In 1843 he visited Greece and the East (Athens, Constantinople, Syria, Egypt, and Malta). The first work of his that created a sensation was Carnival at Venice. This was exhibited at Paris in 1846, and was admired for its brilliant effects of light. Other works are his Panorama of Rome from Monte Mario, Isthmus of Suez, and Close of the Carnival at Rome. He joined revolutionary movements in Venice in 1848, and had to retire into Piedmont. His aim of commemorating in paint the first Italian naval engagement was frustrated when the Re d' Italia, on which he traveled was destroyed on July 20, 1866, by Austro-Venetian fleet at the battle of Lissa, drowning him along with his comrades. More
Ippolito Caffi, (1809-1866)
LA PIAZZA DEL POPOLO ROME
OIL ON CANVAS
36 x 47 cm; 14 by 18 1/2 in
Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.
The piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called the Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern-day Rimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for public executions, the last of which took place in 1826. More
Ippolito Caffi, 1809 - 1866
VIEW OF THE CASTEL SANT'ANGELO, ROME
(the Pons Aelius)
Oil on paper
38 by 57cm., 15 by 22½in
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (Italian pronunciation: [kaˈstɛl sanˈtandʒelo]; English: Castle of the Holy Angel), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The Castle was once the tallest building in Rome.
The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between 134 and 139 AD. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the left bank of the Tiber, and is renowned for the Baroque additions of statues of angels holding aloft elements of the Passion of Christ. More
Ippolito Caffi, BELLUNO 1809 - 1866 LISSA
THE ROMAN FORUM WITH THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AND THE TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROME
Oil on paper
16 3/4 by 13 1/2 in.; 42.5 by 34.3 cm
The largest and most splendid of Rome's temples, the Temple of Venus and Rome was designed by Hadrian, himself. Although consecrated in AD 121, construction did not begin until about AD 125. The temple was dedicated ten years later, and may have been finished by Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius sometime between AD 140 and 145. Damaged by fire in AD 307, the temple was restored "in magnificent manner" by Maxentius (Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus, XL). Indeed, when Constantius visited Rome fifty years later, the so-called Temple of the City was one of the sights that he most admired.
In AD 625, Pope Honorius received a special dispensation from Heraclius to strip the gilded bronze roof tiles for the repair of St. Peter's. During a twelve-day visit to Rome in AD 663, Constans II then "pulled down everything that in ancient times had been made of metal for the ornament of the city, to such an extent that he even stripped off the roof of the church of the Blessed Mary which at one time was called the Pantheon, and had been founded in honor of all the gods". What remaining bronze and other ornaments that had decorated the city were all shipped to Constantinople. An earthquake further contributed to the despoliation of the temple in AD 847, and a church was built in the ruins. More
Ippolito Caffi, (Belluno 1809 - Lissa 1866)
VIEW OF PIAZZA NAVONA, ROME, c.1853
Oil on canvas
168.4 x 228.4 cm
Piazza Navona is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans went there to watch the agones ("games"), and hence it was known as "Circus Agonalis" ("competition arena").
In the center stands the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, topped by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius; the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone by Francesco Borromini, Girolamo Rainaldi, Carlo Rainaldi and others; and the aforementioned Pamphili palace, also by Girolamo Rainaldi, that accommodates the long gallery designed by Borromini and frescoed by Pietro da Cortona.
Ippolito Caffi, (Belluno 1809 - Lissa 1866)
VIEW OF PIAZZA NAVONA, ROME, c.1853
Detail of the fountain
Piazza Navona has two other fountains. At the southern end is the Fontana del Moro with a basin and four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575) to which, in 1673, Bernini added a statue of a Moor, or African, wrestling with a dolphin. At the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune (1574) also created by Giacomo della Porta; the statue of Neptune, by Antonio Della Bitta, was added in 1878 to create a balance with La Fontana del Moro. More
Ippolito Caffi, (Belluno 1809 - Lissa 1866)
VIEW OF PIAZZA NAVONA, ROME, c.1853
Detail of the Street
Ippolito Caffi (Italian, 1809–1866)
Carnival in the Via del Corso, Rome
Watercolor
22.5 x 29.5 cm. (8.9 x 11.6 in.)
The Via del Corso is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is remarkable for being absolutely straight in an area characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas. Considered a wide street in ancient times, today the Corso is approximately 10 metres wide, and it only has room for two lanes of traffic and two narrow sidewalks. The northern portion of the street is a pedestrian area. The length of the street is roughly 1.5 kilometres. More
Ippolito Caffi (Italian, 1809–1866)
Carnival in the Via del Campo, Rome
Watercolor
22.5 x 29.5 cm. (8.9 x 11.6 in.)
Up to the late 19th century, Rome's Carnival used to be one of the most important happenings in Italy. Although this custom died out over one century ago, it still represents an important memory among the city's old folk traditions. It consisted of a huge public festival that lasted eight days, and ended on the night of Mardi Gras, with the beginning of Lent. Actually, the celebrations started eleven days earlier, i.e. on Saturday, but since races and fancy costumes were forbidden on Fridays and Sundays, the actual Carnival days were only eight. More
Ippolito Caffi (Italian, 1809–1866)
Carnival in the Via del Campo, Rome
Watercolor
22.5 x 29.5 cm. (8.9 x 11.6 in.)
Ippolito Caffi (Italian, 1809–1866)
A fire in a Roman street
Watercolor
22.5 x 29.5 cm. (8.9 x 11.6 in.)
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
View of the Via Sacra, Rome, c. 1814
Oil on canvas
28 cm (11.02 in.), Width: 33 cm (12.99 in.)
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - Copenhagen
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
A Section of the Via Sacra, Rome, c. 1814–15
(The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian)
Oil on canvas
12 3/8 x 17 1/8 in. (31.4 x 43.5 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Via Sacra (Sacred Road) was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum , to the Colosseum.
The road was part of the traditional route of the Roman Triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and proceeded through the Roman Forum. More
This frieze-like view depicts the fourth-century Temple of Romulus and Remus, which forms the vestibule of the sixth-century Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian. More
The Marble Steps leading up to the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome,
circa 1816
Oil on Canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst
Built on the foundations of the ancient temple of the Roman goddess Juno, the church known as Santa Maria in Aracoeli (St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven) is one the oldest basilicas in Rome.
Choosing a position from below, Eckersberg created a composition of firm vertical and diagonal lines in this painting of a medieval church in Rome. He painted the picture while being outside and carefully recorded the mid-morning sunlight and shadows. More
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now in Aabenraa Municipality, in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark), to Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter. He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Danish Painting, and is referred to as the Father of Danish painting. More
The Roman Catholic pope had in 1744 listed the Colosseum and dedicated it in memory of the early Christians, who had suffered death during the fighting in the amphitheater.
Ecker's painting shows the Coliseum in an unconventional way. Rather than portray the Colosseum exterior in its grandeur and whole, as artists in earlier times would have done, he painted a section of the building's interior. The Danish painter portrayed several of Rome's buildings from unconventional angles. This helped give his paintings a more realistic look. More
Choosing a position from below, Eckersberg created a composition of firm vertical and diagonal lines in this painting of a medieval church in Rome. He painted the picture while being outside and carefully recorded the mid-morning sunlight and shadows. More
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now in Aabenraa Municipality, in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark), to Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter. He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Danish Painting, and is referred to as the Father of Danish painting. More
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, (1783–1853)
Interior of the Coliseum, 1813-6
Oil on canvas
32 x 25.5 cm.
Propiedad
Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhaguen. Denmark
Ecker's painting shows the Coliseum in an unconventional way. Rather than portray the Colosseum exterior in its grandeur and whole, as artists in earlier times would have done, he painted a section of the building's interior. The Danish painter portrayed several of Rome's buildings from unconventional angles. This helped give his paintings a more realistic look. More
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
View of the interior of the Colosseum, c.1815/1816
w25.6 x h29.1 cm
The Hirschsprung Collection
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, c. 1815
Oil on canvas
Height: 320 mm (12.6 in). Width: 495 mm (19.49 in).
Statens Museum for Kunst
During his years in Rome from 1813 to 1816, C.W. Eckersberg painted a large number of pictures of the city’s ancient ruins, particularly the old amphitheatre the Coliseum. He painted many views from the inside of the building, and here he has taken up position on the third storey, painting the view through three arches there.
He observed the details of the scene with great care, depicting every one of them exactly as he saw them. Nevertheless, the overall view is a construct: the artist used the arches to link up three views that are slightly separate in real life to form an all-new, harmonious whole. More
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, c. 1815
Composition drawing
"...unable to find any writing documenting what we are seeing but thinks the left arch provides a view of the ancient Sacred Way to the ruins of the Roman Forum with the 4th century AD Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine just beyond the open hilltop. If correct that means the buildings on higher ground behind the Basilica are those on the Capitoline Hill." More
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, c. 1815
Underdrawing
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, c. 1815
Left Arch
A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, c. 1815
Center Arch
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853)
A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, c. 1815
Right Arch
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