Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli

Albani collection, Rome;
With Galleria Cesare Lampronti, Rome;
From whom acquired in 2003.

Rome, Chiostro del Bramante; Venice, Museo Correr, Gaspare Vanvitelli e le origini del vedutismo, 26 October 2002 - 18 May 2003, no. 43;
Rome, Complesso del Vittoriano, Terra di miti: arte e cultura in provincia dal Cinquecento al Settecento, 22 March - 24 April 2005 (reproduced in color on catalogue cover).

L. Laureati, "Un Cardinale e un Pittore, Annibale Albani e Gaspar van Wittel: una villeggiatura urbinate e una raccolta di vedute," in Papa Albani e le arti a Urbino e a Roma 1700-1721, exhibition catalogue, Urbino and Rome 2001-2002, p. 229;
L. Laureati, in Gaspare Vanvitelli e le origini del vedutismo, exhibition catalogue, Rome and Venice 2002, p. 156, cat. no. 43, reproduced p. 157.

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 an older lining which is still effective. The paint layer has been cleaned more recently. Under ultraviolet light, one can see restorations in the lower part of the sky on the right, above the tower in the center and in a few other tiny spots. No retouches are clearly visible under ultraviolet light in the landscape or foreground except along the bottom edge, particularly in the lower left corner. These retouches can also be seen with the naked eye. There is also a spot or two on the far right edge beneath the domed building. The work is in very good state and 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."

Tivoli’s spectacular waterfalls and ancient ruins were an enormous draw for the eighteenth-century tourist and became a customary stop for anyone making a trip to Rome and the surrounding countryside.  Vanvitelli produced numerous paintings and drawings of Tivoli, clearly deriving inspiration from different aspects of the gorges, waterfalls and ruins.  This dramatic view depicts the Sanctuary of Hercules Victor, at one time thought to be the Villa of Gaius Clinius Maecenas (70-8 BC), a monumental structure that was built in the second half of the 1st century B.C.  Sitting above the cascades flowing down to the Aniene River, it was a favorite subject for artists.

The composition was for a long time known only from a preparatory drawing in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele, Rome (fig. 1), published by Giuliano Briganti in his 1966 monograph on the artist, and from a related watercolor in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth (fig. 2) which was included in the 1996 updated version of Briganti’s book, edited by Laura Laureati and Ludovica Trezzani.¹  Subsequently, Laureati was made aware of the existence of the present oil painting  and it was shown publicly for the first time in 2002 (see Exhibited).  The finished painting extends further on the left side than the preparatory drawing in Rome and includes numerous buildings in the town of Tivoli.  The watercolor at Chatsworth follows very closely the painting’s overall composition, including the expanded foreground area.  It also depicts the two figures of artists with their sketchbooks at lower right, though in different positions, and there is a lone peasant with a donkey at left rather than the grouping of five figures in the center of the painting.

Formerly in the Albani collection, this painting is probably the work listed as “Cascatelle di Tivoli” by Vanvitelli in the 1852 inventory of the family’s palace in Urbino.²  The painting may have entered the collection through Cardinal Annibale Albani (1682-1751).  Vanvitelli’s biographer Lione Pascoli recorded that the artist and his young son, Luigi, visited Urbino at the Cardinal’s invitation for an extended stay in circa 1718 and that during this sojourn the artist "disegnò alcune belle vedute."³  Michelangelo Dolci’s 1775 listing of paintings in the churches and palaces of Urbino recorded a total of twenty-four paintings by Vanvitelli in Palazzo Albani.⁴

1.  See respectively G. Briganti, Gaspar van Wittel, Il Pittore di Roma Moderna, Rome 1966, p. 320, cat. no. 198d; and G. Briganti, Gaspar van Wittel, nuova edizione, L. Laureati and L. Trezzani eds., Milan 1996, pp. 327, 405, cat. nos. D111 and D331.
2.  See L. Laureati, under Literature, 2002 p. 157; see also Getty Provenance Index, Inventory I-3766 (Albani), aft. 15 November 1852, item 0256.
3.  See L. Laureati, under Literature, 2001-2002, p. 229.
4  Ibid., p. 229.