a painting of a view of a city with boats in the water
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75 - Gaspard van WITTEL (Amersfoort, 1652 – Rome, 1736) View of t…
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Estimate €80,000 - €120,000
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Description
Gaspard van WITTEL (Amersfoort, 1652 – Rome, 1736) View of the Galley Dock Copperplate, 25.5 x 54.5 cm (RESTAURATIONS) Signed and dated lower right on a fountain: GASPARO VAN WITEL 1712 Born in Amersfoort, some forty kilometres from Utrecht – a predominantly Catholic town – Gaspard van Wittel travelled to Rome in 1674. He never left Italy again. His arrival in Naples is mentioned by Pascoli in 1699. He arrived there at the invitation of the viceroy Don Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medinacelli. The latter had been appointed viceroy in 1695, but he had met van Wittel in Rome, where he had been staying as the King of Spain’s ambassador to Pope Innocent XII. Van Wittel made numerous visits to the city on the Partenopean Gulf, and his favourite spot was the Darsena. The Darsena of the galleys was inaugurated on 25 July 1658 at the request of the viceroy Don Pedro of Aragon. It was a new basin measuring 95 by 120 metres, 5 metres deep and with an entrance 11 metres wide, intended to serve as a basin for all the galleys and small sailing vessels. It is one of the subjects that most interested van Wittel, both for its topographical scope and for the numerous picturesque elements featuring figures and boats. The first version dates from 1699 (canvas, 55 x 108 cm – private collectioncollection (see exhibition catalogue *Gaspare Vanvitelli e le origini del vedutismo*, Rome and Venice, 2003, no. 66, reproduced). The final version dates from 1722 (Holkham Hall, Earl of Leicester, dated1722 (see G. Briganti, *Gaspar van Wittel*, Milan, 1996, no. 359, reproduced). Between these two dates, van Wittel depicted the subject more than ten times on canvas and on cardboard. Another version on copper (45 x 98 cm), probably from 1701, is known to exist in a London collection; see (G. Briganti, op. cit. supra, no. 246, reproduced). The composition varies slightly between versions; the main features recognisable are the Tower of Saint Vincent, the quay of the Royal Palace with the ‘Cassina Spagnola’ or the steward’s palace, the Royal Palace, and, to the right, the Castelnuovo. It is likely that van Wittel produced numerous drawings on this theme, which he used throughout his career. In 1712, the year of this painting, van Wittel was mainly in Rome, where he was involved in the festival of San Luca. With its beautiful luminosity and the scope of thesepicturesque details (the little monks near the chair-bearers, the merchants by the boats on the left, and that unique Venetian ship on the left of the composition), our painting ranks among the finest versions of the subject.
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About the sale Antique Paintings, Furniture and Works of Art from the 17th to the 19th century
Auction location
Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
Lot description modified on 06/19/2026 at 8:49 PM
Pictures credits:
SEBERT - Marc TOMASI
See original version (French)
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