- 138
Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld Carpentras 1758 - 1846 Montmorency
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
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Description
- Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld
- A view of the monastery of San Cosimato, to the north of Rome
- inscribed on the reverse in an old hand: Vue du pont et du Couvent de St. Cosimato
- oil on paper, laid on canvas
Catalogue Note
The monastery of San Cosimato has its origins in about 500 A.D. when a church was built on the foundations of a Roman villa and dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian. The monastery was built next to this church and, although subsequently ransacked and destroyed, first by the Longobards and then by the Saracens, it has always been rebuilt and still stands today in the hills to the north of Rome, near Tivoli.
The original abbot of the monastery was Saint Benedict, founder of western monasticism. In response to the hard lifestyle that he imposed on them, in 503 A.D. at the monastry the monks tendered Benedict a poison-filled chalice which, when he raised it to bless it, miraculously shattered and thus his life was saved. In 1680, under the pontificate of Innocent X (1644-1655), the monastery passed from the Benedictines to the Franciscans, under whose control it remains today.
Bidauld probably painted this small work between 1785 and 1790, during his sojourn in and around Rome. Here he painted many small canvases directly from nature; see, for example, his Sunrise on an Italian landscape sold in New York, Sotheby's, 27 January 2006, lot 337 (for $240,000).
The original abbot of the monastery was Saint Benedict, founder of western monasticism. In response to the hard lifestyle that he imposed on them, in 503 A.D. at the monastry the monks tendered Benedict a poison-filled chalice which, when he raised it to bless it, miraculously shattered and thus his life was saved. In 1680, under the pontificate of Innocent X (1644-1655), the monastery passed from the Benedictines to the Franciscans, under whose control it remains today.
Bidauld probably painted this small work between 1785 and 1790, during his sojourn in and around Rome. Here he painted many small canvases directly from nature; see, for example, his Sunrise on an Italian landscape sold in New York, Sotheby's, 27 January 2006, lot 337 (for $240,000).