Jean-Baptiste Lallemand

(1716)

Note: The painting presents a wide view of the Campo Vaccino, the ancient Roman Forum, looking towards the Capitoline Hill. In the foreground, a pastoral scene with figures and animals introduces the depth of the composition, following a narrative scheme typical of eighteenth-century vedute.

On the left, ruined buildings drawn from the medieval and Renaissance fabric of the Forum are freely reinterpreted; at the center, the Palazzo Senatorio and its bell tower are recognizable, while on the right a large tree-lined backdrop, recurrent in Lallemand’s language, balances the composition.

The atmospheric rendering, descriptive attention, and scenographic construction confirm the attribution to Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, a French master renowned for vedute and architectural capriccios elaborated during and after his Roman sojourn. The work fully reflects the formula he developed during his years in Rome (c. 1747–1761): idealized ruins juxtaposed with real elements, expansive luminous spaces, and small groups of figures animating the landscape, in a style recalling the Panini tradition and Arcadian sensibility.

This View of Rome with the Campo Vaccino towards the Capitoline Hill is thus situated at the heart of the artist’s Italian production, distinguished by compositional balance and refined treatment of light.

For a painting by Lallemand with a very similar compositional scheme, see: Art Curial Paris, De l’Italie à la France, une passion européenne, June 9, 2021, lot 13.