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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION ANTONIO JOLI MODENA CIRCA 1700 - 1777 NAPLES ROME, A VIEW OF THE TIBER WITH THE PONTE AND CASTEL SANT'ANGELO, ST. PETER'S BASILICA AND THE VATICAN BEYOND

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Lady"), London, Christie's, 9 April 1990, lot 84, where acquired for £320,000 by the present owner.
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli opera pittorica, Soncino 1999, p. 90, cat. no. R. 6, reproduced in colour plate XXVI.
CATALOGUE NOTE

The fact that the View of the Tiber with the Castel Sant'Angelo exists in a number of variants in Joli's oeuvre - Manzelli lists twenty-two in all - attests to the great popularity of this view. Joli painted the site on a number of occasions, introducing slight changes in the format, viewpoint and staffage of each representation. For a fuller discussion of Joli's treatments of the subject see the note to lot 50 in this sale.

The view is taken on the bend of the River Tiber at the Ponte and Castel Sant'Angelo looking West towards St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. The bridge was first built under Hadrian to link the Castel Sant'Angelo, built on one bank, with the rest of Rome on the other. Building on the Castel began in 123 A.D. and though it was first intended as Hadrian's mausoleum, it went on to serve as a prison, papal residence and stronghold in the ensuing centuries: today it is a public musem. The Ponte Sant'Angelo was first erected in 133-134 A.D. but was substantially altered in the 16th century under Pope Clement VII. In 1668, under the auspices of Pope Clement IX, the sculpted angels holding symbols of the Passion, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and sculpted by his pupils, were installed. Just beyond the Castel Sant'Angelo, on the same bank, is the church of S. Maria in Traspontina which had been demolished in 1564 and rebuilt in 1566 to make way for the Castel Sant'Angelo's pentagonal fortified walls. To the left of it, along the riverbank, is the complex of the Ospedale di S. Spirito in Sassia with the campanile of its church, designed by Baccio Pontelli in 1471, just visible above it. On the horizon beyond rises the Basilica of St. Peter's, with its famous cupola designed by Michelangelo, and the Vatican complex; their appearance remains largely unchanged today despite the construction of Via della Conciliazione in 1936-50 which led to the destruction of much of the borghi of S. Spirito and S. Angelo. This panoramic view is topographical but Joli delights in populating his scenes with lively figures, both on the river and on its banks, and this is what gives each rendition its individuality: here merchants load their wares on a small trading vessel, a gondolier takes two ladies on a trip down the river, citizens and tourists of Rome cross the Ponte Sant'Angelo and point at the sites, and all this is imbued with the golden light that so inspired vedutisti to paint Rome in all her true colours.