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Lot Essay
This panorama shows part of the Roman Forum with the three columns of the Temple of Castor, the baroque church of Santa Maria Liberatrice catching the sun on its left and a solitary Corinthian column soaring through the dark trees on the right. The foreground is grass, a reminder that until the major excavations of the 1870s the central area was known as the Campo Vaccino, or cow pasture. The Temple of Castor was one of the most admired features of the Forum and a popular subject with artists and makers of souvenirs from the Grand Tour. The author Meïr Goldschmidt wrote about the area as it was in 1847:
"...a plain covered with ruins, mounds of earth, columns, churches, cows, shepherds, and beggars...I espied three exquisitely beautiful columns that I recognised from my schooldays. They were the remains of the Temple of Jupiter Stator (Temple of Castor)."
Girault de Prangey made good use of the panorama in Italy, making at least eighteen examples in Rome itself. Of these, four show the Ponte Rotto, the others are all different. There are three of possibly four views including the Temple of Castor.
"...a plain covered with ruins, mounds of earth, columns, churches, cows, shepherds, and beggars...I espied three exquisitely beautiful columns that I recognised from my schooldays. They were the remains of the Temple of Jupiter Stator (Temple of Castor)."
Girault de Prangey made good use of the panorama in Italy, making at least eighteen examples in Rome itself. Of these, four show the Ponte Rotto, the others are all different. There are three of possibly four views including the Temple of Castor.