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Lot Essay
Two other versions in oil on canvas are known, neither of them signed or dated, a slightly smaller picture in the Accademia di San Luca, Rome (Briganti, op. cit., 1996, pp.200-1, no. 191, illustrated, also illustrated on p. 73 and with a detail on p. 74; G. Briganti, The View Painters of Europe, London, 1970, pls. 4, colour detail, and 5) and a larger painting in a Roman private collection (Briganti, op. cit., 1996, pp. 200-1, no. 193, illustrated; Briganti, op.cit., 1988, pp. 46-7, illustrated in colour p. 49). A signed version in tempera on parchment is among the large group of works by Vanvitelli in the Colonna Collection, Rome (Briganti, op.cit., 1996, p. 200, no. 192; Safarik and Milantoni, op. cit., pp. 124-6, no. 33, illustrated, and colour pl. XV). There are variations in the disposition of the boats and figures between all four depictions of the view.
The present picture was formerly accompanied by a pendant view of The River Tiber at the Porto della Legna, Rome, now in a London private collection (Briganti, op. cit., 1996, pp. 176-7, no. 121, illustrated in colour; View Paintings of a European Collector, 1996, pp. 14-17, illustrated in colour). The version of the present painting in a Roman private collection also forms a pair with a version of the Porto della Legna view (Briganti, op. cit., 1996, p. 176, no. 123, illustrated p. 178) and a tempera version of the Porto della Legna composition in the Colonna Collection (ibid., pp. 175-6, no. 119, illustrated) may well have been originally intended as a pendant to the view of the Ripa Grande in the same collection.
The present view shows, on the left, the ramps of the quay of Ripa Grande by the Customs House, behind which rises the tower of the church of Santa Maria in Torre. Beyond this are the Pamphilj palazzina and garden with the smaller campanile of the church of Santa Maria in Cappella behind. All of this group of buildings (apart from the latter church, which is still standing) were destroyed to make way for the Collegio di San Michele and subsequently, in the nineteenth century, for the construction of the Lungotevere. On the right, at the foot of the Aventine hill, is the Via Marmorata, used for transporting marble from the quarries at Carrara and also leading to the ancient salt works.
The present picture was formerly accompanied by a pendant view of The River Tiber at the Porto della Legna, Rome, now in a London private collection (Briganti, op. cit., 1996, pp. 176-7, no. 121, illustrated in colour; View Paintings of a European Collector, 1996, pp. 14-17, illustrated in colour). The version of the present painting in a Roman private collection also forms a pair with a version of the Porto della Legna view (Briganti, op. cit., 1996, p. 176, no. 123, illustrated p. 178) and a tempera version of the Porto della Legna composition in the Colonna Collection (ibid., pp. 175-6, no. 119, illustrated) may well have been originally intended as a pendant to the view of the Ripa Grande in the same collection.
The present view shows, on the left, the ramps of the quay of Ripa Grande by the Customs House, behind which rises the tower of the church of Santa Maria in Torre. Beyond this are the Pamphilj palazzina and garden with the smaller campanile of the church of Santa Maria in Cappella behind. All of this group of buildings (apart from the latter church, which is still standing) were destroyed to make way for the Collegio di San Michele and subsequently, in the nineteenth century, for the construction of the Lungotevere. On the right, at the foot of the Aventine hill, is the Via Marmorata, used for transporting marble from the quarries at Carrara and also leading to the ancient salt works.