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Lot Essay
Born in Modena, Antonio Joli travelled extensively in Italy and abroad, residing in Germany, Spain and England, where he would gain a reputation as a scenografo and vedutista. As a young man, he went to Rome, where he studied the vedute and capricci of Giovanni Paolo Panini, under whom he almost certainly trained. By 1719, he had become a member of the Accademia di San Luca, and in 1732 Joli began his career as a painter of theatrical scenery in Venice, one of the foremost centres of Italian opera. After a brief stay in Rome and travels through Austria and Saxony in 1742-3, Joli settled in London, where he worked for several years at the Royal Haymarket Theatre and also painted vedute for a private clientele. He subsequently moved to Madrid, working as set designer for the Royal Theatre at the Buen Retiro and earning the moniker the ‘Canaletto of Madrid.’ He returned to Italy in 1754 and produced view paintings exclusively thereafter. He met the young Lord John Brudenell in 1756 and accompanied him on his Grand Tour through southern Italy, Ischia and Sicily, painting views of these less-visited sites. From 1762 until his death in 1777, Joli lived and worked in Naples.
This view of the Tiber looking downstream, with the Ponte Sant’Angelo spanning the river, was one of Joli’s most popular compositions. In his 2006 monograph, Ralph Toledano records twenty-five versions, each varying in size and format, with differences in the architecture, boats and staffage (op. cit., pp. 147-71, nos. R.VIII.1-25). The principal feature is the arched Ponte Sant’Angelo, punctuated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s white marble statues of angels, and, anchoring the composition at right, the towering rotunda of the Castel Sant’Angelo, originally constructed as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica rises on the horizon beyond; to its left stands the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, with the Janiculum Hill behind, and to the right lies the vast complex of the Vatican.
Joli's numerous painted variants of this view testify to the strong demand it enjoyed among collectors, while also reflecting its appeal as one of the most attractive depictions of Rome, incorporating key landmarks (M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli: opera pittorica, Venice, 1999, p. 89). It was a view also favoured by other leading vedutisti, including Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli, Bernardo Bellotto, Claude-Joseph Vernet, Ippolito Caffi and later Jean-Baptiste Corot. Here, Joli adopts a slightly elevated viewpoint, creating a sweeping vista with a foreground of water animated by boats and figures, the bridge in the middle distance framed by a pine tree at left and the Castel Sant’Angelo at right, and a backdrop. The whole is conceived like a theatrical set, reflecting his great success as a scenographer.
Joli’s earliest known rendition of this view, painted at the beginning of his sojourn in England in 1744, was commissioned by Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount Irwin (1691-1761), as one of a pair of views intended as overmantels for Temple Newsam (now in Leeds Museums and Galleries). The present work is of an analogous square format and closely matches the dimensions of the ex-Temple Newsam picture (106.7 x 132.2 cm.), suggesting that it too was commissioned as an overmantel. It certainly seems to have been painted in England, where Joli resided from 1744 to 1749.
Toledano (op. cit.), who knew this painting only from photographs, notes a slight awkwardness in the figures and somewhat ‘stiff’ clouds, suggesting the possible involvement of Joli’s workshop. Direct inspection of the work, however, reveals a single hand, with no evidence to suggest collaboration. It was likely painted towards the end of Joli’s English sojourn for an as yet unidentified patron.
This view of the Tiber looking downstream, with the Ponte Sant’Angelo spanning the river, was one of Joli’s most popular compositions. In his 2006 monograph, Ralph Toledano records twenty-five versions, each varying in size and format, with differences in the architecture, boats and staffage (op. cit., pp. 147-71, nos. R.VIII.1-25). The principal feature is the arched Ponte Sant’Angelo, punctuated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s white marble statues of angels, and, anchoring the composition at right, the towering rotunda of the Castel Sant’Angelo, originally constructed as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica rises on the horizon beyond; to its left stands the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, with the Janiculum Hill behind, and to the right lies the vast complex of the Vatican.
Joli's numerous painted variants of this view testify to the strong demand it enjoyed among collectors, while also reflecting its appeal as one of the most attractive depictions of Rome, incorporating key landmarks (M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli: opera pittorica, Venice, 1999, p. 89). It was a view also favoured by other leading vedutisti, including Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli, Bernardo Bellotto, Claude-Joseph Vernet, Ippolito Caffi and later Jean-Baptiste Corot. Here, Joli adopts a slightly elevated viewpoint, creating a sweeping vista with a foreground of water animated by boats and figures, the bridge in the middle distance framed by a pine tree at left and the Castel Sant’Angelo at right, and a backdrop. The whole is conceived like a theatrical set, reflecting his great success as a scenographer.
Joli’s earliest known rendition of this view, painted at the beginning of his sojourn in England in 1744, was commissioned by Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount Irwin (1691-1761), as one of a pair of views intended as overmantels for Temple Newsam (now in Leeds Museums and Galleries). The present work is of an analogous square format and closely matches the dimensions of the ex-Temple Newsam picture (106.7 x 132.2 cm.), suggesting that it too was commissioned as an overmantel. It certainly seems to have been painted in England, where Joli resided from 1744 to 1749.
Toledano (op. cit.), who knew this painting only from photographs, notes a slight awkwardness in the figures and somewhat ‘stiff’ clouds, suggesting the possible involvement of Joli’s workshop. Direct inspection of the work, however, reveals a single hand, with no evidence to suggest collaboration. It was likely painted towards the end of Joli’s English sojourn for an as yet unidentified patron.