GIUSEPPE VASI (Corleone, 1710 - Rome, 1782), ATTRIBUTED TO...

GIUSEPPE VASI (Corleone, 1710 - Rome, 1782), ATTRIBUTED TO

View of the Acqua Felice fountain with the church of S. Maria Vittoria on the background

Pen, ink and watercolor on paper, cm. 30x40. Framed

This admirable view re-proposes the Fountain of Moses - better known as the Fountain of the Acqua Felice in honor of Pope Sixtus V who had it built between 1585 and 1587 - in the classic perspective set by Giambattista Piranesi in his etching of 1751. Thus we find the fountain taken sideways to divide the scene with the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria which stands out clearly against the background of the view. In the beautiful pictorial translation in question here, the most evident difference is constituted by the numerical reduction of the figures that populate the scene, mostly represented in attitudes different from those immortalized by Piranesi, with a less animated effect that infuses the image with a quiet atmosphere that it replaces the nervous vivacity of the incision.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Rome.