Wuttke – Tivoli bei Rom

Carl Wuttke (1849 Trebnitz – 1927 München)

TIVOLI BEI ROM

Oil on canvas, doubled on cardboard, 27 x 20 cm, signed lower right: C. Wuttke and dated lower left: Tivoli 1875, inscribed on the back: Riccordo di Tivoli. 1903.

Tivoli, with its mix of ancient temples and grand nature, picturesque location and easily accessible from Rome, was part of the fixed itinerary for travelers on the Grand Tour and was painted and drawn by all significant artists working in Italy from the 17th to the 20th century. Many of the 'Grand Tourists' wanted to take home a memory of the spectacular Temple of the Sibyl, dramatically situated above one of the three waterfalls. As they could not yet buy postcards or aim a camera at the motif themselves, the numerous artists who also traveled to Italy had a wonderful market and tried to outdo each other with ever more beautiful works. The landscape painter and world traveler, Carl Wuttke, who otherwise traveled in the USA, China, Egypt, etc., was no exception. His wonderfully loosely painted, light-filled view of Tivoli can compete very well with the works of his famous predecessors.