Giovanni Ghisolfi

(milan 1623 – 1683)

arch of titus

68 x 50.8 cm., oil on canvas

  • Literature
  • Giancarlo Sestieri, Il Capriccio Architettonico: in Italia nel XVII e XVIII secolo, Rome, 2015, illus. fig. 34, p. 318, Vol I and fig. 1, p. 112, Vol II. 
  • Exhibition
  • SFO Airport Museum, All Roads Lead to Rome: 17th-19th Century Souvenirs from the Collection of Piraneseum,
    January 24-August 13, 2017

A characteristic example of “the precise art of Giovanni Ghisolfi,” described by Rudolf Wittkower in his Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600 – 1750. This highly realistic view – veduta essata – of Rome’s Arch of Titus is nearly identical to that shown as No. 7 – L’arco di Tito Vista dal Foro Romano – in Andrea Burici Vici’s Giovanni Ghisolfi – Un Pittor Milanese di Rovine Romanae. That work, unlike ours, is signed by the artist, to the reverse. It was, of course, common practice for painters to fashion multiple copies of their best work.

Note Ghisolfi’s signature spiraling, floraform carved decoration above the arch, similar to our previous painting.

For more about Ghisolfi, please see our description of Philosophers Conversing Amongst Ruins.