Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been retouched and varnished fairly recently. Although the lining is extremely old the paint layer is stable yet slightly bumpy because of the old lining. Retouches have been applied here and there throughout the composition and one can see under ultraviolet light that although the arch and the remainder of the ruins and architecture are un-cleaned and more or less untouched, there are fairly numerous retouches which have been applied in the sky and foreground. The figure in the center to the left of the carriage has been very strongly retouched. The painting should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present painting depicts an aspect of the Roman Forum familiar to residents and tourists of the city:  the Campo Vaccino, which was set aside during this period as a thoroughfare for pedestrians and carriages and also functioned as a place to graze cattle.   In the juxtaposition of the decaying grandeur of the the monuments of ancient Rome and the modern city that gew up around it, Vanvitelli and other view painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries found ample inspiration for their art. 

The arch of the African emperor Septimius Severus dominates the center of the composition and dictates the flow of traffic through the area.  Vanvitelli painted numerous views of this arch, and it clearly held a certain fascination for him, as a very detailed architectural drawing of it, on a sheet which has been squared for transfer, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 1971).  Other variations on this view include one signed and dated 1703 that is in a private collection, and another, with an artist sketching in the foreground that was formerly in the collection of Consul Joseph Smith (circa 1674-1770) and was recently sold, London, Sotheby's 8 December 2010, lot 38 for £600,000 (along with a pendant view of Florence from the Cascine). 

We are grateful to Laura Laureati who has confirmed the attribution of the present painting to Vanvitelli based on first hand inspection.