(Munich 1866–1947 Rome)
“View of the Villa Falconieri”, on the reverse old title and inscription, signed, dated and inscribed Max Roeder Roma 1907, oil on canvas, 115.5 x 172 cm, framed, (Rei)

The Villa Falconieri, also known as the Villa Rufina, is situated in the town of Frascati near Rome. Around 1540, Jacopo Meleghino was commissioned to build the villa on the site of ancient Roman ruins by Alessandro Farnese (1520–1589) who later became Pope Paul III. The villa was owned by various wealthy Roman families before being acquired by the Falconieri family in 1628. Although the family no longer exists, the entrance of the house is still decorated with a hawk, in reference to their surname.
By the 1630s the palace had already lost its fortified architectural features and undergone several phases of restoration and embellishment. Today we can still admire its vast baroque frescoes by artists including Carlo Maratta (1625-1713), Ciro Ferri (1633-1689) and Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755).

In 1905 the villa was acquired by Ernst Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1846-1909), a well-known patron of the arts, and became a central meeting point for German society and artists in Rome; this is why Max Roeder, a student of Paul Nauen (1859-1932) who arrived in the Eternal City in 1888, was able to paint the present work.