PAOLO ANESI (Rome, 1697 - 1773) View of the Tiber Oil on canvas, 38.2X25 cm Provenance: Rome, private collection Paolo Anesi has been re-evaluated since the great Florentine exhibition of 1922, when the most astute connoisseurs grasped the artist's role in the evolution of Roman vedutismo of the 18th century (cf. M. Nugent, alla mostra della Pittura italiana del '600 e '700. Notes and Impressions, San Casciano Val di Pesa II, 1930, pp. 424-426). However, one must wait for the studies conducted by Michel (cf. O. Michel, Recherches biographiques sur Paolo Anesi, in Miscellanea della Società Romana di Storia Patria. Studi offerti a G Incisa della Rocchetta, XXIII, Roma 1973) and by Busiri Vici (cf. Busiri Vici 1973) in order to know the essential biographical aspects and to take note of the painter's pictorial qualities, equating him in his output to Andrea Locatelli. It is no coincidence that Anesi was one of the artists most appreciated by travellers on the Grand Tour, especially English travellers, and his works found a place in the most important Capitoline collections. It should also be noted how Anesi combines the tradition of Van Bloemen's ideal landscape with resolutions that seem to anticipate the romantic view. Returning to the canvas under examination, it best reveals the sprezzatura with which the author evokes the Roman countryside with an atmospheric sensitivity capable of describing the air imbued with light. The work is accompanied by a written communication by Giuliano Briganti. Reference bibliography: A. Busiri Vici, Roman Landscape Triptych of the 18th century. Paolo Anesi, Paolo Monaldi, Alessio De Marchis, Rome 1975, pp. 3-71 L. Salerno, I pittori di vedute in Italia (1580-1830), Rome 1991, pp. 128-129 A. Ottani Cavina, E. Calbi, La pittura di paesaggio in Italia. Il Settecento, Milan 2005, pp. 102-103