Stefano Donadoni (Somasca, BG, 1844 – Rome, 1911), View of the Capitoline Hill from the Forum

Stefano Donadoni (Somasca, BG, 1844 – Rome, 1911)

View of the Capitoline Hill from the Forum

Watercolor on paper, 27 x 38 cm

With frame, 53 x 64 cm

Signed lower right

Stefano Donadoni was born in Somasca, a hamlet of Vercurago, in the province of Bergamo, in October 1844 to Giovanni, the owner of a paper mill, and Isabella Trezzi. His artistic training took place in Bergamo at the school of Andrea Marenzi, an academy painter and follower of Ronzoni. It is certain that Donadoni participated – with a certain success – in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Milan in 1881 with three paintings: Ancient Bergamo, The Goatman and The Palazzo della Ragione (the location of these works is unknown, but according to the chroniclers of the time they must all have been characterised by great realism; see catal., Milan 1881, p. 63). With his wife Angelica Colli and his children Alessandro and Elisabetta, Donadoni moved to Rome around 1882. The artist participated in the Roman exhibition of fine arts in 1883 with three paintings whose subject still featured glimpses of his homeland: the Church of S. Salvatore, the Church of S. Maria Maggiore and the Chapel of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Bergamo (see catal., Rome 1883, pp. 43, 76). Most of the works from Donadoni's vast production are preserved in Rome at the Municipal Prints Cabinet of Palazzo Braschi and at the National Institute for Graphics. The first of the two institutes houses a collection of around 400 watercolours, all reproducing monuments, architectural details or lost corners of the city – with the exception of the View of S. Rocco in Frascati (inv. M. R. 2963) and the Archpriest's House in Bergamo (inv. M. R. 3157) – and built between 1891 and 1911, years in which great changes were taking place in the layout of the city. It is precisely in their testimonial value that these works are still of interest, as they reproduce with extreme fidelity facades, corners of buildings, portals, aedicules, gardens and fountains. The historical-documentary significance emerges above all when situations are reproduced that have subsequently been radically modified or have even disappeared, as in the case of the Certosa di Termini (inv. M. R. 3112) or Villa Spithover (inv. M. R. 2990). No less conspicuous than the municipal one is the collection preserved at the National Prints Cabinet: in addition to three small oils on canvas, depicting Ruins and ruins, the first, and two Views of the countryside around Ceccano, it includes a group of around three hundred pencil drawings, in some cases retouched in ink. The subjects are mostly Roman, even if other Lazio locations appear, such as Viterbo, Corneto, Sermoneta, Tivoli, or details of consular roads (National Fund, vol. 2913, from 20.12 to 20.45 and Folder sec. XIX-XX, from 6831 to 6930). The style of Donadoni the draughtsman is as analytical and essential as that of Donadoni the watercolourist: urban and architectural details are captured with great rapidity, the place depicted is always indicated with precision and the date of execution often appears next to the signature. In many cases, the inscriptions discovered on the facades of buildings, on the boundary stones of ancient Roman roads, and on various monuments are noted with the spirit of a careful philologist.

In this beautiful watercolour we can see the artist's propensity to represent the reality that surrounds him according to absolutely analytical methods: although it was executed quickly, the painting presents a series of lenticular details relating to the architectural elements of some of the most famous buildings of the Roman Forum.