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Porta Angelica and Part of the Vatican
C.W. Eckersberg (Danish, 1783–1853)
1813
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 31.7 cm, width 41.3 cm, height 42.6 cm, width 52.5 cm
- Culture
- Danish
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
The painting is presumably the first of Eckersberg’s many views of Rome. As in all of his later Roman scenes he has avoided the city’s most famous building, St Peter’s Basilica, opting for a lesser-known motif instead. The painting was presumably painted immediately after the composition drawing, which was executed on 29 October 1813 (cf. Eckersberg 2009). The inscription on the verso, “Eckersberg 1814”, is not in Eckersberg’s own hand and is unlikely to be correct as far as the date is concerned. Eckersberg decided on the outline of his subject matter in a compositional sketch (private collection; Monrad 2013, fig. 44), but adjusted several details while transferring the motif to the canvas. Infrared photography showing the underdrawing on the canvas tells us that the motif has not been slavishly copied from the drawing, but painstakingly redrawn (Monrad, Scharff & Wadum, 2006, 60f/113).
