Stefano Donadoni (Somasca, BG, 1844 – Rome, 1911), View of the Capitoline Hill from the Forum

Stefano Donadoni (Somasca, BG, 1844 – Rome, 1911) View of the Capitoline Hill from the Forum Watercolor on paper, 27 x 38 cm With frame, 53 x 64 cm Signed lower right Stefano Donadoni was born in Somasca, a hamlet of Vercurago, in the province of Bergamo, in October 1844 to Giovanni, owner of a paper mill, and Isabella Trezzi. His artistic training took place in Bergamo at the school of Andrea Marenzi, an academic painter follower of Ronzoni. Donadoni's participation - with some success - in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Milan in 1881 is confirmed with three paintings: Ancient Bergamo, The Goatherd and The Palazzo della Ragione (the location of these works is unknown, which, according to the chroniclers of the time, were all characterized by great realism; see catalog., Milan 1881, p. 63). With his wife Angelica Colli and children Alessandro and Elisabetta, Donadoni moved to Rome around 1882. The artist participated in the Roman exhibition of fine arts in 1883 with three paintings that still bore glimpses of his homeland as their subject: the Church of S. Salvatore, the Church of S. Maria Maggiore and the Chapel of Bartolomeo Colleoni of Bergamo (see catalog., Rome 1883, pp. 43, 76). Most of the works that are part of Donadoni's vast production are kept in Rome at the municipal print cabinet of Palazzo Braschi and at the National Institute for Graphics. The first of the two institutes holds a collection of approximately 400 watercolors, all reproducing monuments, architectural details or vanished corners of the city - with the exception of the View of S. Rocco in Frascati (inv. M. R. 2963) and the House of the Archpriest in Bergamo (inv. M. R. 3157) - and created between 1891 and 1911, years in which major changes were taking place in the city's layout. It is precisely in the value of testimony that these works still have interest, as they reproduce with extreme fidelity facades, corners of palaces, portals, shrines, gardens and fountains. The historical-documentary significance emerges above all when situations are reproduced that have subsequently been radically modified or have even disappeared, as in the case of the Certosa di Termini (inv. M. R. 3112) or Villa Spithover (inv. M. R. 2990). No less conspicuous than the municipal one is the collection kept at the National Graphics Cabinet: it consists, in addition to three small-sized oils on canvas, depicting Ruins and rubble, the first, and two Views of the countryside around Ceccano, of a nucleus of about three hundred pencil drawings, in some cases retouched in ink. 1 subjects are mostly Roman, although other locations in Lazio appear, such as Viterbo, Corneto, Sermoneta, Tivoli, or details of consular roads (Fondo nazionale, vol. 2913, from 20.12 to 20.45 and Cartella sec. XIX-XX, from 6831 to 6930). The line of Donadoni the draftsman is as analytical and essential as that of Donadoni the watercolorist: urban and architectural details are fixed with great speed, the place depicted is always indicated with accuracy and often, next to the signature, the date of execution appears. In many cases, the inscriptions discovered on the facades of the palaces, on the cippi of the ancient Roman roads, on various monuments are noted with the spirit of a careful philologist. After a long career and obtaining various official recognitions, Donadoni died in Rome in November 1911. In this beautiful watercolor, the artist's propensity to represent the reality that surrounds him according to absolutely analytical modalities is noted: although it was executed quickly, the painting presents a series of lenticular details relating to the architectural elements of some of the best-known buildings of the Roman Forums.