A capriccio view of the Tiber with the Ponte Sisto; and A capriccio with a palazzo by a river

Paolo Anesi studied under Giuseppe Chiari, Bernardino Fergioni and Sebastiano Conca, specialising in atmospheric landscapes and capricci. With the exception of two brief visits to Florence, he worked in and around Rome for his whole career, and the region's architecture, its landmarks and campagna form the subject of his entire oeuvre. His landscapes were eagerly sought after by a number of prestigious clients, which included Charles-Emanuel III, King of Sardinia, and his work was well represented in the collections of the great aristocratic families of Rome, such as the Colonna, Pallavicini, Valenti Gonzaga, Pamphili and Rondini. In addition to works on canvas, Anesi also executed a number of wall decorations, mostly painted in gouache. Among the few that survive are a series of Roman views in the Galleria Pallavicini and architectural capricci for two rooms in the Palazzo Borghese.

The present pictures can be compared with another pair, of similar size and composition, albeit of oval form (see A. Busiri Vici, Trittico paesistico romano del '700, Rome, 1976, pp. 236-7, fig. PA. 34-5, listed as in the collection of Vincenzo Masini). The bridge in the first of the two pictures bears a close similarity to the Ponte Sisto (see another view of this bridge formerly in the collection of Brinsley Ford, ibid., PA. 22).