The Idea of Villa Castagna
A garden is both a real place, and a cloud of possibilities. What you will find here will be both something real, and something that may or may not become real. For this reason you will find no map: Instead you will meet fragments, part real, part possible.
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Category Archives: Architectural paintings
The Elusive Patronage of George Gordon, Lord Haddo: Giovanni Paolo Panini and Pompeo Batoni
A Panini with a Haddo provenance that comes up at Christie’s, New York, in May prompts some reflections on the elusive patronage of George Gordon, Lord Haddo, who died in 1791 in a fall from a horse. He is generally agreed to be the subject of a portrait by Pompeo Batoni at Haddo House, and it is assumed that he is the member of his family who acquired two Paninis, the one at Christie’s and another now in the Liechtenstein collection in Vienna. Continue reading →
Some Remarks on Panini, Piranesi and the Campidoglio
In 1761 Giovanni Battista Piranesi produced, as one of his Vedute di Roma, one of the more unusual representations of the Campidoglio, The Campidoglio from the side (Fig. 1).[1] Piranesi normally did his designs from scratch, and in this case … Continue reading →
Chinoiserie Fabriques Part 2: William Kent
William Kent, Design for Chinoiserie garden temple, showing plan and detailed elevation with bamboo porch, c. 1730–1735. Pen and brown ink and brown wash on paper. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, E.384-1986. (Fig. 1) English Chinoiserie pavilions explored a … Continue reading →
Views of the Colosseum from the North 4: Panini’s ex-Earl of Dunraven Rome, a View of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, 1734
[For Part 1, of which this is a continuation, see https://villacastagnadaylesford.com.au/2018/11/12/views-of-the-colosseum-from-the-north-1-luigi-rossinis-panorama/ For Part 2, see https://villacastagnadaylesford.com.au/2018/11/16/views-of-the-colosseum-from-the-north-2-luigi-rossinis-view-from-the-palatine-towards-the-esquiline/ For Part 3, see https://villacastagnadaylesford.com.au/2018/11/17/views-of-the-colosseum-from-the-north-3-gaspar-van-wittels-view-of-the-colosseum-and-the-arch-of-constantine-c-1707/%5D The ex-Dunraven Panini is probably the earliest version of Panini’s Colosseum compositions, with a date that has been read … Continue reading →
Views of the Colosseum from the North 3: Gaspar van Wittel’s View of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, c. 1707
[For Part 1, of which this is a continuation, see https://villacastagnadaylesford.com.au/2018/11/12/views-of-the-colosseum-from-the-north-1-luigi-rossinis-panorama/ For Part 2, see https://villacastagnadaylesford.com.au/2018/11/16/views-of-the-colosseum-from-the-north-2-luigi-rossinis-view-from-the-palatine-towards-the-esquiline/%5D Gaspar van Wittel was unusual, if not unique, in using a camera obscura set up on site. The gridded image on the camera obscura … Continue reading →
Views of the Colosseum from the North 2: Luigi Rossini’s View from the Palatine towards the Esquiline
[For Part 1, of which this is a continuation, see https://villacastagnadaylesford.com.au/2018/11/12/views-of-the-colosseum-from-the-north-1-luigi-rossinis-panorama/%5D A second print by Luigi Rossini is a view from the Palatine towards the Esquiline across the Colosseum, entitled Il Monte Esquilino (1827) (Figs 1, 2). Rossini shows the … Continue reading →
What is the Baroque?
What is the Baroque? Is it a period, a style, a civilisation, or a critical concept? It is all of these. ‘Baroque’ was a term that came into use in the eighteenth century as a negative descriptor of the style … Continue reading →