(Vienna 1793-1875) A view of St. Peter’s in Rome seen from the region of the Monte Mario Balduina, c. 1820, signed Tho. Ender, watercolour on Whatman, 13,5 x 20,4 cm, mounted, framed, (Hu)

Provenance:
Reinhold Hofstätter, Wien.

Compare:
Walter Koschatzky, Thomas Ender, 1793-1875, Kammermaler Erzherzog Johanns, Graz 1982, p. 43, Fig. 37, View from the Campagna over Rome, c. 1820.

In March 1819 Count Metternich went on a journey to Italyand took Thomas Ender with him. In June oft he same year Ender received a multi-year scholarship for a sojourn in Rome. After having been influenced by Joseph Rebell who he got in touch with in Rome he returned to Vienna in autumn 1823. (See Walter Koschatzky, Thomas Ender 1793-1875, Kammermaler Erzherzog Johanns, Graz 1982, pp. 38, 42, 45).

The view of Rome seen from the Campagna was a popular motif among artists. Even so, Ender liked to render the pine trees in the foreground which give way to the slightly blurred town in the background. The silhouette of St. Peter’s features itself from the sky; the dense accumulation of houses which our minds connect with the city of Rome today, did not exist in briefly after 1870. From the perspective of Ender’s point of view the town is more or less hidden behind the church. The hills to the right of the church, where the villas Abamalek, Pallavicini and Aurelia Antica are situated, have remained a greenland until today.

We are grateful to Dr. Richard Bösel, Austrian Historical Institute in Rome, for the scientific support.