Antonio Joli

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 30 May 1991, lot 65 for $275,000;

Private Collector, Alabama;

From whom acquired by the present owner. 

R. Toledano, Antonio Joli: Modena 1700 – 1777 Napoli, Turin 2006, cat. no. R.XII.1, p. 51, reproduced in color. 

This magnificent view of the Flooded Piazza Navona is among the most unique and important works by the great vedute painter Antonio Joli.  The picture perfectly reflects the style and form that made Joli a major commercial and critical success throughout Europe during his accomplished career. Although born in Modena, Joli would spend most of his life travelling around Italy and even further afield to Germany, Spain and to England, where he would gain a fine reputation as a scenografo (set-designer) and vedutista (view-painter). 

The Piazza Navona, occupying the site of the ancient stadium of Domitian, then known as the Circus Agonalis, has throughout its history been the location of festivals, jousts and open-air sports. From the 17^th to 19^th centuries, but particularly following the 1652 completion of Bernini’s monumental masterpiece La Fontana dei Quattri Fiumi, the piazza was purposely flooded in August on certain Sundays and feast days for the entertainment of the Romans.

Whereas a certain number of Joli's compositions were repeated by both he and his studio in multiple versions, this is a near unique composition. Toledano (see Literature) records only one other rendering of this wonderful and bustling event, an inferior work with studio assistance sold New York, Sotheby's, 15 May 1994, lot 52.