Oil painting, 'The Pantheon, Rome', François Bonnet, 1843-1848

A Roman pantheon seen from the right hand-side, surrounded by palaces and building in a sunny day, figures leaving a palace in the background and a market scene in the foreground with people clustered around shops.

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868

Historical significance: This painting is a fine example of Bonnet's output. He mainly produced landscapes, views of lakes and mountains. This work depicts the Pantheon in Rome, seen from the right hand side. In the foreground is a market scene with small figures clustered around shops.
This painting is part of a group recording the monuments of Rome, which Bonnet executed during his 5-year stay in the city between 1843 and 1848. Typical of Bonnet's manner is the broad and sketchy brushwork in a warm earthen palette. This technique is characteristic of the Realist movement emerged in the 1840s in France.
The town view or 'veduta' goes back to a long tradition particularly popular in Venice during the era of the Grand Tour of Europe, stimulated by the need of recording topographical settings. This painting was probably executed directly after the motif, which provides the picture with great dynamism.
Comparable works include The Portico of Octavia, Sotheby's paris, 25 Jun 2003, lot 85 and Sunny Courtyard of an Italian Palazzo, Dobiaschofsky Auktionen AG, Berne, 8 May 2010, lot 3229.

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.

Francois Bonnet (1811-1894) was a pupil of Camille Joseph Etienne Roqueplan (1800-1855) in Paris. Between 1843 and 1848 he sojourned in Rome where he befriended the Swiss artist L. Berthoud (1822-1892). He went to Lausanne prior settling definitively in Freibourg in 1862, where he taught at the Collège Saint-Michel.

This painting is a fine example of Bonnet's town views he produced while staying in Rome between 1843 and 1848. It shows the Pantheon in Rome, seen from the right hand-side and a market scene in the foreground with small figures clustered around shops. The interest in everyday life activities and the broad sketchy technique enlivened by a warm earthen palette is typical of the Realist movement that emerged in France in the 1840s.

1597-1869