Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli

Giuliano Briganti published four versions of the frontal view of Villa Aldobrandini (all in oil), with the present view being slightly cropped on the right-hand side compared to the others and the only one on copper.¹ Two further versions exist, one in oil, which sold at Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1999, lot 94, for £720,000 and one in tempera which was offered at Sotheby's, New York, 30 January 2019, lot 37. There are also four published versions depicting the east elevation of the Villa Aldobrandini, two in tempera and two (including the present) in oil.² A clear chronology for the views of Villa Aldobrandini is difficult to establish, as only one of the versions is dated by the artist, to 1707, and no preparatory drawings survive,³ although they all likely date to between 1700–20.⁴

Situated in the town of Frascati, Villa Aldobrandini lies approximately twelve miles south-east of Rome, at the foot of the Alban Hills. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the town became a popular destination for villeggiatura, emulating the famous Roman villas which had existed at the nearby town of Tusculum at the end of the Republican period (largely destroyed in 1191). The villa, which was first built in 1550, was inherited by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini from his uncle Pope Clement VIII in 1598. In 1601 Pietro commissioned the architect Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) to convert the villa into its current monumental state. Nearly a century later in 1693, the entrance gate with the decorative walls, segmented and with oval openings, was commissioned by Prince Giovanni Battista Pamphili (1648–1709) from the architect Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri (1656–1721). The Pamphili family owned this property from 1681 (following the death of Olimpia Aldobrandini Pamphili) until 1763, so when Vanvitelli painted this view and the other versions, the villa was already in their possession. A terminus post quem of 1693 is provided by the inclusion of the new entrance gate of the villa.

¹ Briganti 1996, pp. 205–6, nos 203–6, all reproduced.

² Briganti 1996, p. 207, nos 207–10, all reproduced.

³ Briganti 1996, p. 206, no. 204, reproduced.

⁴ L. Trezzani in Gaspare Vanvitelli e le origini del vedutismo, exh. cat., Rome 2002, p. 158.