Piazza Colonna

Baur Johann Wilhelm

(Strasbourg 1607 - Vienna 1642)

Part of a series of four miniature tondos, the view of Piazza Colonna was painted by the Alsatian artist Johann Wilhelm Baur in around 1636. Each work of the group has a circular format and depicts a view of Rome. The series has formed part of the Borghese Collection since the 17th century, having been either purchased or received as a gift by Prince Marcantonio II. The Collection also contains a View of Villa Borghese painted by the same artist using the same technique; like the four small tondos, this work dates to Baur’s Italian period between 1631 and 1637.

Object details

Commentary

The work is a round miniature executed in tempera on parchment which depicts Piazza Colonna. It was painted by Johann Wilhelm Baur as part of a series of four views of Roman squares during his stay in Italy between 1631 and 1637. He is known to have painted several other works during these years, including the miniature representing a View of Villa Borghese, signed and dated 1636, which likewise forms part of the Borghese Collection (inv. no. 519). The series of four views of the city was probably also executed in roughly the same year, entering into the family’s possession shortly after its completion. It is unclear, however, whether the paintings were commissioned by Prince Marcantonio II or given to him as a gift by the artist (Della Pergola 1959, p. 146, nos 200-203; Herrmann Fiore 1990, pp. 193-194, nos 67-68; Barchiesi 2002, p. 144, no. 15).

The four works have remained in the Collection ever since. They were mounted in pairs in double 17th-century frames decorated with plant motifs, with Piazza Colonna coupled with Capitoline Hill (inv. no. 482) and Piazza del Quirinale (inv. no. 488) with Trajan’s Forum (inv. no. 481). They were first mentioned in a Borghese inventory in 1693, which failed to provide a precise attribution. By contrast, the 1790 inventory rightly ascribed them to Baur: ‘four tondos with prospects, Giov. Gugl. Bagur’.

Baur’s Italian stay followed his training in his native city Strasbourg under the miniaturist Friedrich Brentel. During his time in Italy he worked for several distinguished noble families. In addition to Marcantonio Borghese, he enjoyed the patronage of Duke Bracciano, Marquis Giustiniani and Prince Ferdinando Colonna. In 1637, Baur left Italy, though not to return to his hometown: he moved to Vienna, where he spent the last years of his life working at the court of the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III. Our 17th- and 18th-century sources that provide information about the artist give 1640 as the year of his death (J. von Sandrart, L’Academia Todesca della Architectura, Scultura & Pittura, 1675, II, pp. 306-307; A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, II, 1718, p. 333; N. Pio, Le vite di pittori, scultori et architetti [1724] 1977, p. 91; F. Baldinucci, Notizie de’ Professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua. Secolo V dal 1610 al 1670, 1728, p. 197); yet Luigi Salerno’s discovery of a View of a Villa on the Sea in a private collection in London (1976, p. 460, 464) forces us to move this date back: this work by Baur is in fact signed and dated 1641.

The artist’s popularity among prominent collectors of the era is above all connected to his ability as a miniaturist and his extraordinary skill in rendering perspective, of which the Borghese series provides conspicuous proof. When viewed under a magnifying glass, these works reveal quite refined architectural and figurative details, displaying a virtuosity found in northern European painting.

Baur’s Roman views are also of interest for their historical value. They attest to the appearance of several emblematic venues of 17th-century Rome prior to the great transformations of the city that have since taken place. In the case of Piazza Colonna, Palazzo Piombino can be seen, which at the time belonged to the Varalli family. It was demolished in 1889 to make room for what today is the Galleria Alberto Sordi (Busiri Vici 1957, p. 39). The scene is brought to life by a series of small figures rendered with great accuracy: as in the other miniatures of the series, they depict a cross-section of contemporary social life in the city’s most important squares.

Pier Ludovico Puddu