Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli

E. H. Slater, 158 Marsland Road, Sale, near Manchester;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 20 July 1934, lot 56, (as Marieschi, 10 guineas
to Agnew);
With Agnew's, London, from 1934 to 1945;
From whom acquired by Francis Wells in 1945;
By whom bequeathed to a private collector;
By whom anonymously sold ("Property of a Gentleman of Title"), London, Christie's, 9 July 1993, lot 93, reproduced on the front cover (as Vanvitelli);
There acquired by the present collector.

G. Briganti, "Chiarimenti sul Vanvitelli," in La Critica d'Arte, XXIV, 1940, p. 133;
G. Briganti, Gaspar van Wittel e l’origine della veduta settecentesca, Rome 1966, p. 185, cat. no. 45, reproduced;
G. Briganti in L. Laureati and L. Trezzani (eds.), Gaspar van Wittel, Milan 1996, p. 163, cat. no. 85, reproduced p. 164, fig. 85
L. Trezzani, "Gaspare Vanvitelli, il pittore di Roma moderna," in F. Benzi et al., Gaspare Vanvitelli e le origini del vedutismo, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2002, p. 35, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been recently restored and should be hung in its current state. The canvas has an old lining which is still nicely stabilizing the paint layer and presenting an attractive surface. The work is clean, retouched and varnished. The retouches are accurately applied and are only visible under ultraviolet light. When viewed under ultraviolet light, fine retouching is visible within the sky addressing long cracks. These are breaks in the paint layer, but not tears to the canvas. In the right and center sky there are also a few isolated spots of retouching visible. The only concentration of retouching is in the cloud in the upper left. Within the lower half of the picture, there are further thin cracks and breaks in the paint layer which have been restored. Along the bottom edge there are scuffs and losses, particularly beneath the white peacock, which have been retouched. Along the right side again, some breaks to the paint layer can be seen in the big tree and in the lower right. In the lower left there is a 3-inch diagonal loss extending from the bottom edge which has also attracted restoration. There are numerous pentimenti visible along the row of small trees in front of the Roman building, especially on the left side. These have been left un-retouched and are an interesting look into the artist's technique. This is not a picture without retouches, but given the attractive texture of the paint layer, the strength of color and lack of abrasion throughout the architecture and foreground, this work can still be considered to be in very good state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This exquisite view captures Rome from a rare viewpoint, never repeated by the artist, and provides a meticulously accurate record of this corner of the city that has transformed in the centuries since Vanvitelli’s depiction.  The painting shows the church of Santi Marcellino e Pietro at the intersection between the road linking the Colosseum with Porta Maggiore and that linking Santa Maria Maggiore to San Giovanni.  The artist has chosen a raised viewpoint above the crossroads in a vineyard, the Vigna Ciccolini.  In the foreground people stroll in the vineyard’s terrace garden which, as Giuliano Briganti asserts, is perhaps the only topographical detail derived from Vanvitelli’s imagination.¹  The garden is not apparent in subsequent engravings by Giuseppe Vasi, executed just a few years after this painting, nor does it appear in maps of the area by Giovanni Battista Falda.  Besides the delightful fictitious garden, Vanvitelli reproduces the topography in characteristically accurate detail.  In the background is San Giovanni in Laterano, today enveloped by its urban environs, but then surrounded by small vineyards, vegetable plots and walled gardens, punctuated with trees. 

Then, much like today, the city effortlessly reconciles its magnificent modern edifices with looming antique ruins, such as the Claudian Aqueduct, whose arches are visible at right, and the obelisk in Piazza di San Giovanni.  This subdued and perhaps more intimate corner of the city would likely have been painted for a Roman patron, and Laura Laureati and Laura Trezzani have tentatively proposed it may even have been commissioned by Pope Clement XI Albani.²    The church of Santi Marcellino e Pietro was restored by Carlo Fontana in 1703 on the orders of Clement XI and the latter’s papal arms are clearly visible on the building’s façade.³  The pope conceded the church to the Syrian monks of Saint Anthony Abbot in 1707, for whom he built the small monastery adjoining it to the right.  Giuliano Briganti dated the painting to the first decade of the eighteenth century though noted it could have been executed no earlier than 1707, given the inclusion of the monastery erected that year.

 

1. See G. Briganti 1966, under Literature.
2. See G. Briganti in L. Laureati and L. Trezzani (eds.) 1996, under Literature.
3. See A. Blunt, Guide to Baroque Rome, London 1982, p. 77.