Gaspar van Wittel, known in Italy as Gaspare Vanvitelli, is celebrated as the father of the Italian veduta, a genre of panoramic landscape paintings. His work has inspired many, including the renowned Bernard Bellotto, known as Canaletto, much loved in Warsaw for his many detailed paintings of the city.
The show in the Polish capital features Rome, Naples, Florence and Tivoli in a collection of panoramic views that have captivated audiences with their detailed depiction and atmospheric portrayal of Italian cities for centuries.
The exhibition, curated by Alicja Jakubowska, aims to highlight van Wittel's influence on landscape painting, offering 14 selected works, mainly focusing on Rome and Naples. These cities played a significant role in the artist's career and in the development of veduta painting.
Accompanying the exhibition is an educational program, a catalogue and audio material prepared by the curator.
Van Wittel's life and work embody the journey of an artist deeply influenced by the landscapes of Italy.
Born in the mid-17th century in the Dutch city of Amersfoort, van Wittel studied painting under Thomas Jansz van Veenendaal and Matthias Withoos for about 12 years before venturing south to Italy.
Settling in Rome, he spent the next six decades creating vedute that combined topographical correctness with a masterful capture of the Italian cities' atmosphere.
Prof. Wojciech Fałkowski, the director of the Royal Castle, said that the exhibition also serves as a preview for a new room that will emulate the decor inspired by the Grand Tour—a long journey across the continent, particularly through Italian cities, which was essential for shaping the personality and artistic taste of European elites from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.
This permanent exhibition will be based on drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings, echoing the trend of such tourism that swept through Europe.
The Grand Tour was an educational journey, indeed a rite of passage of sorts, to be undertaken by the intellectual elite of Europe, particularly during the 17th and 18th centuries. The travels were meant to cultivate taste and engender knowledge of culture.
Van Wittel's works were evidently very popular with people taking their Grand Tour.
European landscape painting has a rich history, evolving significantly from ancient times, through the Renaissance, to its establishment as a distinct genre in the 17th century.
Dutch artists such as Johannes Vermeer and Jacob van Ruisdael played a crucial role in this development, focusing on topographical accuracy and atmospheric detail, qualities that Van Wittel mastered in his Italian vedute.
The Italian Views by van Wittel exhibition is open to the public at Warsaw's Royal Castle until June 23.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, zamek-krolewski.pl