A view of the Tiber, Rome, with the Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's beyond

This rare view of Rome by Isaac de Moucheron is one of only four known Rome views, of which the other three are listed by A. Zwollo in her chapter on the artist (see Hollandse en Vlaamse veduteschilders te Rome (1675-1725), Assen, 1973, pp. 39-56, figs. 53, 55 and 64). All four are views along the banks of the Tiber and two of the published canvases are of very similar dimensions to the present work. All show the Italianate influence of his countryman, Gaspar van Wittel, and are unlike his later, less Italianate paintings. Isaac de Moucheron made drawings naer het leven when he was in Rome between 1695 and 1697, and these apparently served as preliminary sketches for his other more finished, signed drawings, which he used in preparation for his paintings. One such drawing that directly relates to this canvas is in Otterlo, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller (see Zwollo, op. cit., p. 50, fig. 62). That drawing (see fig. 1) has an added date of '1708', which nonetheless indicates a possible dating for this painting.