Landscape with the Villa Farnese at Caprarola
by WITTEL, Caspar Andriaans van, Oil on canvas, 50 x 99 cm
Caspar van Wittel created a new type of painting around 1700, the veduta, that would inspire several generations of artists in the years to come, among them Canaletto, Bellotto and Guardi. His paintings are topographical representations of cities, palaces and villas, painted with a warm palette and always including a narrative around the daily life particular to the place depicted.
The Villa Farnese in Caprarola is situated in the hills to the north of Rome. Built in several stages over the course of the 1500s, it was the brainchild of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III.