Oil painting, 'Rome: The Piazza del Campidoglio, Santa Maria in Aracoeli and the Cordonata', follower of Canaletto, late 18th century

On the left, up the stairs running along a wall of houses, the Church of Santa Maria Aracoeli; in the middle right a sloping road composed of transversal stripes leading up to the Piazza del Campidiglio and the Palazzo Senatorio surmounted by statues all'antica; many figures in movement and a carriage far left.

Given by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Bart.

Given by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Bart., 1901
Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence (1837-1914) was born in London, the son of William Lawrence, Alderman. He was educated at University College School, University College London (BA, 1861 and LLB with honours). He married Edith Jane Durning Smith in 1874, the daughter and co-heiress of politician John Benjamin Smith.
During 1867, Durning-Lawrence was called to Middle Temple and also was a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works for a short time, as well as a Lieutenant for the City of London and a Justice of the Peace in Berkshire. He was elected as Liberal Unionist member of Parliament for Truro in 1895; a position he held until 1906. Durning-Lawrence's main interest was literature, especially the Bacon/ Shakespeare controversy; he was the author of Bacon is Shakespeare (1910) and The Shakespeare Myth (1912). In 1901 he gave to the V&A thirteen paintings, museum numbers 620 to 633-1901.

Historical significance: This painting is part of a group of similar view attributed to Canaletto, a painter who was most renowned for his vedute paintings of Venice. It shows the architecture of the Capitol Hill in Rome and appears to be closely related to a drawing in the Darmstadt Gallery (no. AE2186) inscribed Antonio Canal .... but which attribution has been long discussed.
The present work shows on the left, up the stairs running along a wall of houses, the Church of Santa Maria Aracoeli while in the middle right is the Cordonata (i.e. a sloping road composed of transversal stripes) leading up to the Piazza del Campidiglio and the Palazzo Senatorio, seat of the city of Rome. The church was built on the foundations of the ancient Temple of Juno whereas the Palazzo Senatorio was originally built as a fortress in the 11th century on top of the ancient Tabularium and rebuilt again in the 13th and 14th century. The current design is a slightly adapted version surmounted by statues all'antica of the 16th century design by Michelangelo.
The present composition derives from Canaletto's prototype in John Wyndham collection, Petworth House, depicted though from a slightly closer point of view. Five versions of it described as school of Canaletto are listed in Constable (1962): (1) formerly Leningrader Museen sale, Lepke, Berlin, 4-5 June 1929, no. 47, pl. 14; (2) Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (no. 1939.228); (3) Schwerin Gallery, no. 128 in 1882 Catalogue ; (4) Smithsonian Institute, Washington; and (5) Christie's sale, 4 Feb. 1924, lot 145. Kauffman added three other versions to this list: (6) Sale, Lepke, Berlin, 9 Mar. 1914, from Ludwig, Freiherr von Schacky Collection attributed to Bellotto; (7) Florence, private collection; and (8) Sotheby's sale, 29 Nov. 1961, lot 123, from Sir Aymer Maxwell Collection.
The palette employed here is quite close to Canaletto's but however slightly more golden in tones. The artist imitated Canaletto's art of painting and stylistic characteristics by copying his 'macchiette', i.e. figures made up of small touches of paint and using a restricted palette of brown, white and blue contrasted by areas of intense light and shade.
The picture is also dotted with small figures in movement, a carriage and animals illustrating thus the 18th century Roman way of living.
Canaletto had a great influence of the following generations of painters and his pictures were widely copied in the 18th century. Artists such as Bernardo Bellotto, Antonio Joli and William James reproduced many compositions of the master.

A 'veduta' is a painted, drawn or engraved composition representing a landscape or town view that is largely topographical in conception and was generally displayed as wall schemes for interior decoration. This genre painting became particularly popular in Venice during the era of the Grand Tour of Europe, stimulated by the need of recording topographical settings. Painters who produced 'vedute' were known as 'vedutisti' and benefited from the technical support of the 'camera obscura', a box with a small hole used as an optical device to improve the representation of the natural world, especially the perspective. Many of the vedutisti also produced 'capricci' i.e. compositions that combine imaginary and realistic architectural features in a picturesque setting. The genre declined during the early part of the next century and was gradually transformed by the Romanticism into a vehicle for emotional responses to the visible world. The 'veduta' was however eventually supplanted by the invention of photography in the 19th century.

Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (1697-1867) was born in Venice and trained there by his father, Bernardo Canal, a theatrical scenery painter, and his uncle, Cristoforo. He accompanied them to Rome where he remained a few months, maybe more, and directed his artistic development towards view paintings including fantasy views and landscapes while gradually working his way into realistic view painting. He was a member of the Venetian painters' guild, the Fraglia, in 1720. He moved to England in 1746 and remained there until at least 1755, a sojourn interrupted by short visits to Venice. He trained his nephew, the view painter Bernardo Bellotto (1721-1780), who became a member of the Fraglia in 1738, and perhaps Michele Marieschi (1696-1743) and Francesco Guardi (1712-1793). He also had a certain influence on the English school of painting, especially Samuel Scott, and had established the vogue for views of London.

This painting is a version of an extensively copied composition by Canaletto. It shows the Capitol Hill in Rome with the church of Santa Maria Aracoeli on the left, the cordonata leading up to the piazza del Campidoglio in the midlle right and the Palazzo Senatorio. All these monuments were rebuilt on top of ancient Roman foundations and were adapted to the need of the modern city. Many figures inhabit the space and illustrate the way of living in 18th-century Rome.

626-1901