Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are pleased to offer for sale this large and very well executed watercolour by the renowned architectural Italian artist Roberto Gigli, who has signed the painting in the lower left hand corner Gigli, within an oval. The painting depicts a view of the ruin of part of the Temple of Minerva, and Le Colonnacce, or the columns that previously decorated the Forum of Nerva, rather than the colonades that decorated the other Fora. The statue was thought to be of Minerva, but in later years it is now believed that all the statues around the Forum depicted different peoples from around the area.

This small part of the Forum of Nerva has been photographed and painted by many artists through the decades, including Samuel Prout and Jacob George Strutt and still stands today. However, the columns have been excavated and are now their original length. The statue is still in situ, but the windows and doors have been bricked up. The building to the left is no more. By some of the photos of Le Colonnacce that we have seen, we would date this painting to around 1870/80..

Roberto Gigli was born in Rome in 1846. and, presumably lived there all his life, as his architectural watercolours all feature Roman edifices. He died in 1922. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find any biographical details about his life, as there are none in Benezit or online.

The watercolours has been newly double mounted in two-tone acid-free mountboard and is newly framed in a 1 1/8 inch bronze gilt frame to suit.

Image size: 19 x 14 3/8 inches - 48.25cm x 36.55cm

Frame size: 27 1/4 x 22 1/4 inches - 69.2cm x 56.5cm

Medium: Watercolours on textured paper

Condition: Very good. The colours are bright and there is no apparent foxing. The mounts and frame are new.