PAINTER ACTIVE IN ROME IN THE XVII-XVIII CENTURY Architectural capriccio with a view of St. Peter's and classical antiquities Oil on canvas, 149X200 cm Provenance: From a noble Roman collection The painting is an extraordinary and monumental architectural 'capriccio' against the backdrop of which stands St. Peter's Basilica and Castel Sant'Angelo. Along the perspective we distinguish on the left the Lateran obelisk, a piece of the Colosseum and the monumental sculptures of the Dioscuri. On the right we recognise the Trajan Column, the Arch of Constantine and, in the foreground, the sculpture of Hercules Farnese. In the centre of the scene, the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius and the Fountain by Carlo Maderno (1614) stand out. At first glance, the style evokes the achievements of Viviano Codazzi (Bergamo, c. 1604 - Rome 1670), an artist of Bergamasque origin who moved to Naples around 1620 and later to Rome, devoting himself to the genre of the veduta and the capriccio, producing works characterised by a peculiar 'Caravaggesque' realism. However, in spite of an apparently 17th-century date, the papal coat-of-arms visible in the lower right-hand corner with the emblem of Pope Benedict XIII suggests a period between 1724 and 1730, coinciding with the growing interest in antiquarian culture and ancient ruins on the part of art lovers and collectors. Therefore, the name of Giovanni Paolo Panini (Piacenza, 1691 - Rome, 1765) is evoked for the quality, inventiveness and rational intent with which the buildings are described according to a sustained antiquarian culture. Reference bibliography: R. Longhi, Viviano Codazzi e l'invenzione della veduta realistica, in Paragone, VI (1955), 71, pp. 40-47 G. Briganti, Gaspar van Wittel e l'origine della veduta settecentesca, Roma 1966, ad vocem L. Salerno, Pittori di paesaggio del Seicento a Roma, Rome 1976, II, pp. 504-511 D. R. Marshall, Viviano and Niccolo Codazzi and the Baroque Architectural Fantasy, Rome-Milan 1993, p. 6