Claude, 'A View in Rome', 1632

A View in Rome

Claude

Room 39

About the work

Overview

This painting combines a view of Rome, on the left, with an imaginary ruin, on the right. The distant view is of the sixteenth-century church of Santa Trinità de' Monti, where Claude would be buried. Beside this is the convent of the Sacro Cuore. These buildings are now at the top of the Spanish Steps, which were built during the eighteenth century. Further to the right is the Palazzo Zuccari and on the horizon in the centre is the Quirinal Palace, the Pope’s summer residence.

The foreground scene takes place in front of an ancient temple and a statue of Apollo. The young man in the hat may be giving alms to the peasant woman or paying for the services of the two young girls behind her. These kinds of figures do not appear in other paintings by Claude, so they could have been painted by another artist.

In-depth

This painting combines an accurate view of Rome, on the left, with an imaginary ruin, on the right. The distant view is of the sixteenth-century church of Santa Trinità de' Monti, recognisable by its two clock towers. This is where Claude would be buried. Beside this is the convent of the Sacro Cuore. These buildings are now at the top of the Spanish Steps, which were built during the eighteenth century. Further to the right is the Palazzo Zuccari and on the horizon in the centre is the Quirinal Palace, the Pope’s summer residence. The viewpoint may be from the top of Claude’s house in Rome.

On the right is an entrance to a temple and a statue of Apollo, god of music, holding a lyre. The young man in the foreground may be giving alms in the form of coins to the peasant woman as a religious act of virtue. Or he could be paying for sex with the two young girls behind her, one of whom kneels with her hands crossed while the other reaches out to embrace a male companion. If this is a scene of prostitution, placing it in the shadow of a ruined pagan temple may have been intended as a deliberate symbolic contrast with the church bathed in sunlight on the opposite side of the picture. These kinds of figures do not appear in other works by Claude, and some commentators in the past have suggested that they may have been painted by another artist. However, the painted-out changes, or pentimenti, made to the position of the figures and background details suggest this was the work of one artist – most likely Claude.

Signed and dated 1632, this is one of Claude’s early works. The buildings are depicted in a sketchy style and without an understanding of how to combine intricate detail and perspective. The contrast between light and shade in the composition lacks subtlety: the background is shown in blazing sunlight whereas the foreground is almost in darkness. During this period, Claude was developing his own style and was influenced by other artists, such as Willem van Nieulandt II (1584–1635) who combines the real and imaginary in his landscapes; Agostino Tassi (1578–1644), known for his warm colouring, and Cornelis van Poelenburgh (1594–1667) for his light effects.

Key facts

Details

Full title: A View in Rome
Artist: Claude
Artist dates: 1604/5? - 1682
Date made: 1632
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60.3 × 84 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1890
Inventory number: NG1319
Location: Room 39
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 17th-century Roman Frame

Provenance

Probably in the collection of Sir Gregory Page (1685–1775) of Blackheath, Kent, by 1761; presumably bought by van Heythusen with the Page collection c. 1781, or by 1783 when the rest of that collection was sold; probably purchased from van Heythusen by Noel Joesph Desenfans (1745–1807) and offered for sale by him by private contract at 125 Pall Mall, London, 8ff. April 1786, no. 71, and similarly 8ff. June 1786, no. 255; if so, Desenfans’s sale, Christie’s, 17 July 1786 (lot 19); Edward Coxe sale, London, Peter Coxe, 24 April 1807 (lot 56, £105 to Lord Grey or Lord Hampden); in the collection of Thomas, 2nd Viscount Hampden (1746–1824), of Green Street, Mayfair, and Glynde, Sussex, from whom, or from whose estate, acquired by Cesare Ambrogio San Martino, Count d’Aglié (1770–1847), Sardinian ambassador to London 1812–37, by 1828; sold by his son(?) Count St Martin d’Aglié, Turin, to the National Gallery for £175 in 1890.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings’, London 2001; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2014

Bassifondi del Barocco. Roma dei vizi, della miseria e degli eccessi. / Les Bas-fonds du baroque. La Rome des vices, de la misère et des excès

Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici

7 October 2014 - 18 January 2015

Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris

24 February 2015 - 24 May 2015
2017

Frederic William Burton: For the Love of Art

National Gallery of Ireland

24 October 2017 - 14 January 2018

Bibliography

1761

London and Its Environs Described: Containing an Account of Whatever is Most Remarkable for Grandeur, Elegance, Curiosity or Use, in the City and in the Country Twenty Miles around it, 6 vols, London 1761
1766

T. Martyn, The English Connoisseur, London 1766
1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1905

E. Dillon, Claude, London 1905
1914

H. Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole, vol. 2, ed. P. Toynbee, Oxford 1914
1946

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1946
1957

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
1960

E. Knab, 'Dir Anfänge des Claude Lorrain', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, LVI, 1960, pp. 63-164
1961

M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain: The Paintings, London 1961
1961

M. Dobroklonsky, 'The Drawings of Claude Lorrain in the Hermitage', The Burlington Magazine, CIII, 1961, p. 395
1961

M. Waddingham, 'Alla ricerca di Agostino Tassi', Paragone, CXXXIX, 1961, pp. 9-23
1968

M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain: The Drawings, London 1968
1968

M. Röthlisberger, 'Additions to Claude', The Burlington Magazine, CX/780, 1968, pp. 115-9
1969

I.G. Kennedy, 'Claude Lorrain and Topography', Apollo, XC, 1969, pp. 304-9
1969

M. Kitson, The Art of Claude Lorrain (exh. cat. Laing Art Gallery, 27 September - 26 October 1969), London 1969
1974

L. Gowing, 'Nature and the Ideal in the Art of Claude', Art Quarterly, XXXVII, 1974, pp. 90-6
1975

M. Röthlisberger, L'opera completa di Claude Lorrain, Milan 1975
1979

P. Conisbee, 'Pre-Romantic "Plein-air" Painting', Art History, II/4, 1979, pp. 413-28
1982

H.D. Russell, Claude Lorrain 1600-1682 (exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 17 October 1982 - 2 February 1983), Washington 1982
1989

H. Langdon, Claude Lorrain, Oxford 1989
1994

H. Wine, Claude: The Poetic Landscape (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 26 January - 10 April 1994), London 1994
1996

W. Schade, Claude Lorrain: Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Munich 1996
1996

P. Conisbee, 'The Early History of Plein-Air Painting', in In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting, Washington 1996
2001

Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings, London 2001
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 12 works

Claude, 'A View in Rome', 1632

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Claude