A 20th-century inscription on the backing attributes the work to Luigi Bettinelli (1824-92), a landscape painter from Bergamo in the second half of the 19th century, whose style is indeed reflected in the architectures with their decisive perspective lines (Bettinelli was an engineer and professor of architectural drawing), the atmospheric graininess, the warm and tonal chromatism. In our opinion, however, the attribution should be recognized to Paolo Gaffuri (Bergamo 1849-1931), a student of Bettinelli, who, painting in the wake of the master, achieved results of this type; a refined and rare painter for his own pleasure, Gaffuri was a prominent figure in the society of his time, founder of the Italian Institute of Graphic Arts in Bergamo (1873), as well as co-founder in 1895 of the Emporium magazine, for decades a central point of reference for Italian art. A second inscription affixed directly to the back of the painting, and this time contemporary, reads "Benedictine Convent in Quarto", a locality where Bettinelli had actually stayed upon his return from the long Roman experience: from here, in all probability, the master had brought back a travel drawing, then lending it to the student to create this painting. The fresh little work is dated shortly after 1870; it is contained in a gilded frame from the same period. Oil on pressed cardboard of cm. 26.5 x 33.8;
