Isaac de Moucheron (Amsterdam 1667-1744)A view of the Tiber, Rome, with the Castel Sant'Angelo and Saint Peter's beyond
signed 'J Moucheron fecit' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40.6 x 55.8cm (16 x 21 15/16in).注脚Provenance
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1999, lot 85
Sale, Christie's, London, 6 July 2007, lot 170, where purchased by the present owners


Upon completion of his apprenticeship with his father, Frederick, in Amsterdam, Isaac de Moucheron visited Italy for two years, working mainly in Rome. The present work is one of only eight known views of Rome by the artist; one other view of Saint Peter's, four views along the Tiber and two further panoramic depictions of the city (see: N. Wedde, Isaac de Moucheron (1667-1744), Frankfurt am Main, 1996, pp. 429-31, nos. P1-P7).

Whilst in Rome, de Moucheron often worked en plein air making small, preliminary sketches to be worked up later into finished, signed drawings, which in turn were used as a basis for paintings. This particular working method is evident in two drawings which are related to the present view of the Vatican and the Tiber. Moucheron first made an 'in situ' sketch of the Vatican taken from the same direction but from a greater distance (the work is now in Düsseldorf Kunstmuseum, inv. no. FP 5191). The later, worked-up drawing, of almost exactly the same composition as this painting, is now in the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller in Otterlo (fig. 1). The date of '1708' has been added to this latter drawing but it nonetheless suggests a possible date for the present painting.