Lot 3 Dα

Much has been written about the fact that Leo von Klenze's oeuvre can only truly be understood when we view him in light of his dual talents and twin roles as a painting architect and a building painter. One can only fully grasp the significance of his paintings when you know also of his activity as an art collector and the role that his own works played within his collection. This is especially true of this view of the Forum Romanum, which remained in Klenze's estate.

Leo von Klenze's collection brought together works by artists such as Carl Rottmann and Franz Ludwig Catel. It was open to the public and was praised for providing an overview of contemporary landscape painting. The art collection was later sold to King Ludwig I of Bavaria and formed the basis of the Neue Pinakothek. If one looks at the paintings acquired by Klenze together with his own works, this view of the Forum Romanum is a fitting addition to the numerous views of Italy - comparable in this respect to his views of the Campo Santo in Pisa, the cathedral square in Amalfi or the Concordia temple in Agrigento. Lieb (op. cit., p. 49) has pointed out the topographical accuracy of these reproductions of the monuments and squares, although noting that Klenze has ‘spatially intensified’ them.

With the Forum Romanum, Leo von Klenze has chosen one of the most representative and “classical” views of Rome. On the left, we see the ruins of the Temple of Saturn, one of the oldest and most important buildings on the Forum, as well as the Corinthian columns of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus framing the Arch of Septimius Severus in the background. As a depiction of ancient Rome, this view of the Forum Romanum is almost unique in Klenze's oeuvre. He did not paint the Pantheon or Castel Sant'Angelo; he was not interested in depicting the most important ancient monuments in Rome, as was the case with Giovanni Battista Piranesi. For him, the Forum Romanum, the architectural and political centre of the ancient city, stood as pars pro toto for the greatness of Roman antiquity, which still echoes into the present day, and he visited and studied it on his numerous journeys to Italy with friends, fellow artists and patrons (fig. 1).