Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli Amersfoort 1652/3 - 1736 Rome

Acquired by the present owner from a London dealer about twenty years ago.

The composition of this copper is the same as that in a painting on canvas, differently signed and of slightly larger dimensions (40 by 50 cm.), published by Briganti as formerly with Sestieri and then in a private collection in Rome (see G. Briganti, Gaspar van Wittel, ed. L. Laureati & L. Trezzani, Milan 1996, p. 251, cat. no. 323, reproduced p. 252). Briganti dates that painting to the first or second decade of the 18th Century and a similar date of execution seems plausible for the present copper, given that two of the four other known painted versions are dated to this period; 1705 and 1719 respectively (Briganti, op. cit., p. 251, cat. nos. 322-5, all reproduced on p. 252). This appears to be the only known version on copper; a support which lends itself to Vanvitelli’s delicate brushwork and atmospheric effects.

This view is an intimate and topographically accurate representation of Verona; a historic city that was largely destroyed in the Second World War. Verona was founded in Roman times at the point at which three important trade routes meet, and it continued to expand in Medieval times. By the 16th Century Verona had become an important military stronghold and a vital component of the Venetian Republic, remaining under the latter’s control until the end of the 18th Century. Though not as vital a stop on the Italian Grand Tour as Florence or Rome, its vicinity to Venice made Verona a popular destination for foreign travellers and merchants. Indeed Vanvitelli was not the only vedutista to have immortalised the city in his paintings: Luca Carlevarijs, Antonio Joli and Bernardo Bellotto all chose to paint the city at different times. Vanvitelli must have been one of the first, however, probably stopping in Verona around the same time as his Venetian sojourn, around 1694. A drawing by Vanvitelli of the river Adige, taken from the same viewpoint as this painting, confirms the artist’s presence in the city (Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele, Rome; Briganti, ibid., pp. 407-8, cat. no. D344, reproduced on p. 410). Both representations, together with the four other painted versions, are an important testimony to the appearance of Verona’s city walls, prior to their destruction at the end of the 19th Century. The mill on the river Adige, also visible in the drawing, is known to have existed until the early part of the last Century.