View of Via di Ripetta in Rome

For many years Antonio Canal, aka Canaletto (1697– 1768) was considered the painter behind the marvellous veduta of the promenade on the banks of the Tiber in Rome as well as views of Vienna in this Collection, but these are now attributed to his pupil and nephew B. Bellotto, equally known as Canaletto. Without doubt, we have the two Canalettos to thank for the perfection achieved with the large-format veduta. The almost photographic reproduction down to the smallest details already fascinated contemporaries. On the road leaving north, at the place where Pope Clemens XI had the new port built on the Tiber, to this day stands the Palazzo Borghese with its loggia in the front right, next to it the church of San Girolamo degli Illirici or degli Schiavoni (15th century) and that of the mariners San Rocco (1499), which received a Classicist facade in 1834. Today, the old Customs House on the left side of the road, in the middle of the picture, has been torn down, and the Augustus Mausoleum and his Ara Pacis are back in view. Bellotto’s view of the city and its counterpart, the view from Palazzo Quirinale, commemorate Rome’s irrecoverable beauty. (Bettina Baumgärtel)