The Tiber with the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome

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The Tiber with the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome

Artist Bernardo Bellotto (Italian, 1721-1780)

Place of OriginRome, Italy

Dateabout 1742-1744

DimensionsPainting: 33 1/2 × 57 1/2 in. (85.1 × 146.1 cm)
Frame: 43 1/4 × 67 3/4 × 3 in. (109.9 × 172.1 × 7.6 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1977.3

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 27

Label TextIn morning light, two fashionable young visitors to Rome with their tutor or guide discuss a solemn view along the Tiber River. These privileged youths are surely on the Grand Tour, that experience of Continental culture and life then seen as indispensable for cosmopolitan polish. On the skyline rises the massive tomb of Roman emperor Hadrian. Transformed into the papal fortress Castel Sant’ Angelo, it became a symbol of Christianity triumphant over pagan antiquity. To the right looms the church of the Florentine community in Rome, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini—started in 1509 but only recently completed when this view was painted. The building’s sharply faceted Renaissance bulk contrasts with such ordinary details as hanging laundry, foreground idlers, and the stained plaster wall that frames the view on the left. Bernardo Bellotto studied topographical view painting with his uncle, Canaletto, the most celebrated view painter in Europe (see a painting by Canaletto in this gallery). Painted as souvenirs for wealthy tourists, views were often made in sets. Toledo’s canvas was originally paired with one of Castel Sant’ Angelo seen from a different angle, now in the Detroit Institute of Arts.Published ReferencesVoss, H., "Europäische Meister des 18. Jahrhunderts in der Royal Academy von London," Kunstchronik, VIII, 1955, p. 39, fig. 2a (as Bellotto, and relating it to the Detroit picture).

Watson, F.J.B., "Venetian Paintings in the Royal Academy 1954-1955," Arte Veneta, IX, 1955, p. 262.

Levey, M., National Gallery Catalogues, The Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, 1956, under no. 135, p. 10, n. 6.

Kronig, W., "Geschichte einer Rom-Vedute," Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertizianae, 1961, p. 403.

Constable, W.G., Canaletto, Oxford, 1962, II, no. 407 (as attributed to Canaletto, but "the color and the handling of the lights is distinctly that of Bellotto").

Martini, E., La pittura veneziana del Settecento, Venezia, 1964, p. 252, n. 220.

Kozakiewicz, S., "Il motivo capitolino nell'arte di Bernardo Bellotto," Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie, VII, 1966, pp. 16-17.

Levy, M., National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London, 1971, in no. 135, p. 14, n. 6 (as Bellotto).

Kozakiewicz, S., Bernardo Bellotto, Greenwich, CT, 1972, I, pp. 35, 36, 37, II, cat. no. 65, repr. p. 49, (as 1742-1744).

Camesasca, E., L'opera completa del Bellotto, Milan, 1974, no. 37.

Busiri Vici, A., "In relazione all'opera romana di Bernardo Bellotto," Antichità Viva, 1976, no. 5, p. 38, fig. 5.

"Eighteenth Century Paintings for Toledo," Apollo, vol. 106, July 1977, p. 68, fig. 68.

"La chronique des arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 91, no. 3130, March 1978, repr. p. 50.

"Pictures from the Grand Tour," Connoisseur, vol. 199, no. 801, Nov. 1978, p. 211.

Links, J.G., "Landscape and townscape from the Grand Tour," Apollo, vol. 108, no. 202, Dec. 1978, p. 439.

Bleyl, Matthias, Bernardo Bellotto Genannt Canaletto, Darmstadt, 1981, p. 55 (not in exhibition).

Marinelli, Sergio, Bernard Bellotto: Verona e le città europee, Milan, 1990, repr., p. 68 [not in exhibition].

Bowron, Edgar Peters, "A Venetian abroad: Bellotto and 'the most beautiful views' of Rome," Apollo, vol. 140, no. 391, Sept. 1994, p. 28, 30, 32, no. 9, fig. 3, p. 27.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 103, repr. (col.).

Villis, Carl, "Bernardo Bellotto's seven large views of Rome, c. 1743," Burlington, vol. 142, no. 1163, Feb. 2000, p. 76, fig. 7, p. 79.

Bissell, R. Ward et. al., Masters of Italian baroque painting: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2005, p. 29, 31, n. 8, fig. 2, p. 30.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 198-199, repr. (col.) and (det.).

Guidoboni, Emanuela, et al., Nella spirale del clima: culture e societa mediterranee di fronte ai mutamenti climatici, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2010, repr. (col.) p. 193.

Barker, Sheila, ed., Women Artists in Early Modern Italy: Careers, Fame, and Collectors, London, Harvey Miller Publishers, 2016, p. 99, repr. (col.) fig. 1.

Exhibition HistoryShrewbury, Shrewbury Art Gallery, Pictures from Shropshire Houses, 1951, no. 3 (as Canaletto).

London, Royal Academy, European Masters of the Eighteenth Century, 1954, no. 39 (as Canaletto, but suggesting it as by Bellotto).

Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, on extended loan from 1958 (Shavington inventory no. 30).

London, Royal Academy, Italian Arts and Britain, 1960, no. 184 (as Bellotto).

Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Bernardo Bellotto, 1722-1780, 2001, no. 24, p. 108, repr. (col.).

Worcester Art Museum, Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a time of plague 1500-1800, 2005, no. 20, p. 217, repr. (col.) p. 216.