Ditlev Martens - Drawing "Veduta dell'arco di Costantino a Roma" (View of the Arch of Constantine in Rome)

Ditlev Martens (Kiel, 1795-1864)
“Veduta dell'arco di Costantino a Roma” (View of the Arch of Constantine in Rome)
Drawing in pencil and watercolor on paper
About 1830
Dimensions: h. 44 cm x l. 55 cm - frame: h. 70 cm x l. 81 cm
Signed lower left with the initials "D. M.”

The artist, a pupil of the painter Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenagnen, where he won the silver medal. In 1826 he moved to Rome, where he entertained until 1837 opening a studio in Via di Porta Pinciana and then in Via S. Isidoro. During this stay he met Bertel Thorvaldsen with whom he had a cordial exchange of artistic ideas and suggestions.
The work presented represents the triumphal arch of Emperor Constantine, standing next to the fountain known as "Meta Sudans" in the classical era Roman setting with characters taken in a snapshot of everyday life.
The painter put the signature in the form of initials, on the ruins at the bottom left with a fully romantic taste.

Bibliography:
Keller, Enrico 1830, Elenco di tutti i pittori,scultori,architetti ecc., Rome, Pier Mercurj e Robaglia, 1830, p. 101
Olsen H. P. 1985, Roma com'era nei dipinti degli artisti danesi dell'Ottocento, Rome, Newton Compton editori, 1985, p. 204
De Rosa Pier Andrea, Paolo Antonacci, a cura di, 2004, Pittori danesi a Roma nell'Ottocento, catalogo della mostra, Roma 2004