Old Masters

Old Masters

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 100. ANTONIO JOLI | A VIEW OF GENOA FROM THE EAST, WITH THE PONTE DI SANT’AGATA, THE BORGO DEGLI INCROCIATI AND THE TORRENTE BISAGNO IN THE FOREGROUND, THE MURA DELLA ZERBINO AND THE MURA DI MONTESANO BEYOND.

Property from a Private Collection, Pennsylvania

ANTONIO JOLI | A VIEW OF GENOA FROM THE EAST, WITH THE PONTE DI SANT’AGATA, THE BORGO DEGLI INCROCIATI AND THE TORRENTE BISAGNO IN THE FOREGROUND, THE MURA DELLA ZERBINO AND THE MURA DI MONTESANO BEYOND

Lot Closed

June 11, 03:40 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private Collection, Pennsylvania

ANTONIO JOLI

Modena 1700 - 1777 Naples

A VIEW OF GENOA FROM THE EAST, WITH THE PONTE DI SANT’AGATA, THE BORGO DEGLI INCROCIATI AND THE TORRENTE BISAGNO IN THE FOREGROUND, THE MURA DELLA ZERBINO AND THE MURA DI MONTESANO BEYOND


oil on canvas

canvas: 22 by 35⅜ in.; 55.6 by 89.7 cm.

framed: 28½by 42 in.; 72.4 by 106.7 cm.

Rendered with remarkable detail and a great attention to topographical accuracy, this newly discovered veduta of the Italian port city of Genoa is one of only two views of the city known by Antonio Joli, one of the most admired vedute painters of the eighteenth century. Small figures and animals populate this sprawling vista, which looks westward from the east and includes a number or recognizable historical and architectural monuments, some of which no longer stand today.


At the far right is the old bridge of the Ponte di Sant’Agata. It crosses over the Bisagno river, reaching the Borgo degli Incrociati, a neighborhood of medieval buildings lining the western shore, including the Church of Diecimila Martiri Crocifissi, whose steepled building is seen to the left of the bridge entrance. On the top of the hill beyond appears the Mura dello Zerbino, one of the many ancient walls that once helped to defend the city of Genoa. It bordered the gardens surrounding the Villa Durazzo, known today as the Villa Gropallo. Built from 1599-1603, the villa is the small building rising from behind the center of these walls, and it is towered over by the large building of the Fondazione Fieschi to the right. To its right rises the Monte Peralto, atop which sits the Forte Sperone, a fortification of the city first erected in the fourteenth century. Running down the left of the hill at center is the Mura di Montesano, to the left of which are visible the faint outlines of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano as well as the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. 


The present painting compares closely in size to another view of Genoa by Joli, suggesting that the two may have once been pendants or were part of the same set.1 While the early provenance of both paintings is unknown, they compare stylistically with the set of over forty canvases commissioned from Joli by his important patron John Montague, Lord Brudenell, to capture views of the cities that he visited on his Grand Tour. Lord Brudenell is recorded as visiting Genoa from December 1754 - January 1755.


We are grateful to Dr. Ralph Toledano for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs.  We are also grateful to Gianfranco Curatolo for his help with the topography depicted.


1. Private collection, oil on canvas, 56.2 by 90.6 cm. See R. Toledano, Antonio Joli: Modena 1700-1777 Napoli, Turin 2006, cat. no. V.V.X, reproduced.