Wittel Paintings
1652 - 1736 Dutch painter
Rome, the Tiber near the Porto di Ripa Grande, 1711
Oil on canvas, 47 x 98 cm
Galleria dell'Accademia di San Luca, Rome City Landscapes
Approximately half of Van Wittel's Roman vedute are views either of or along the Tiber. Made at fifteen different locations, most of them were repeated at least twice, as in this case. The present view represents the southernmost point Van Wittel ever painted along the Tiber. It was taken looking towards the north from the eastern bank, opposite the Porta Portese. To the left, across the river, we can see the quay known as the Porto di Ripa Grande, with the two long stairways and the customs building, behind which the small tower of Santa Maria della Torre is just visible. Further along the same bank of the Tiber, right before the river bend, lies the Palazzina Pamphili and its garden, obscuring the Ponte Rotto. Most of the complex was demolished in the late nineteenth century to make way for the Ospizio di San Michele, except for the customs building, which was razed in 191415.
The tall tower on the horizon in the middle of the composition stands on the Capitoline; to its right are the Torre delle Milizie, the dome of Santi Luca e Martina, the Quirinal and the campanile of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. On the right riverbank near the Via della Marmorata, marked by a few blocks of marble, is an array of houses of various shapes and sizes, gardens and places of work. Lying in the Tiber below, there are the remains of a bridge that has long since collapsed and, further in the distance, those of the old Ponte Sublicio. There is almost no traffic on the river. A galley and two two-masters are moored at the Porto di Ripa Grande, while some rowboats, a large, flat-bottomed barge and an impressive rowing-sloop can be noticed. Among the figures strolling on the right a few monks can be distinguished as well as a gentleman who looks rather Dutch.
