Offered by Brozzetti Antichità
19th Century, Oil on Canvas, Italian View of the forum Boario of Rome
Measurements: With frame: cm H 88.5 x W 148.2 x D 5.5 cm, Canvas: H 79.5 x 139.3 cm
The fine painting represents the Piazza della Bocca della Verità, located in the Ripa district, in the area of the Foro Boario, the oldest market in Rome (Italy). On the right is described the Roman Temple of about 100 B.C. wrongly called of Vesta, circular Corinthian monopter with cell of white marble ashlar and twenty fluted columns. From the 12th century it was reused as a church dedicated to Santo Stefano delle carrozze, then, in the 18th century, in Santa Maria del Sole. On the right you can see the fountain called "dei tritoni" which was built in 1717 on a design by architect Carlo Bizzaccheri. The fountain has a star-shaped bathtub, in honour of the commissioner, the Pope Clement XI Albani (1700-1721) in whose coat of arms, above a symbol indicating three mountains, you can see a star with eight points. In the centre of the pool, above some rocks there are two newts, sculpted by Francesco Maratta, set on the shoulders and with the intertwined tails supporting a shell-shaped basin with the papal coats of arms engraved. The square is delimited, on the second floor, by the wall surrounding the cenci garden, placed on the west side of the square, and the houses of the left bank of the Tiber. In the distance, on the right, you can see the façade of the San Salvatore al Ponte rotto, of the Torre degli Alberteschi.
Some figures of passers-by, farmers and on the right a laundress, animate the scene. The artist, who must be sought after among the painters active in the first half of the nineteenth century in Rome, describes the view in a clear sunny day: the chromatic and luminous values are balanced, the light is warm, diffused, and urban elements contrast with the blue sky.
The views of the square, and its monuments, have been a privileged subject of painters and then photographers nineteenth century and there are several works with the same point of view. The painting must therefore be considered a historical document testifying to a precise moment of the look of the Forum boario, in which the observer will find himself participating, reliving the liveliness of the square. The bright and clear tones of the view give it a distinct decorative appearance.
The work, for which further historical-artistic studies are underway, is in a good state of conservation, ready to be placed in your environments.
