Stefano Donadoni (somasca, Bg, 1844 - Rome, 1911), View Of The Capitol From The Forum

Stefano Donadoni (Somasca, BG, 1844 - Rome, 1911)

View of the Capitol from the Forum

Watercolor on paper, cm 27 x 38

With frame, cm 53 x 64

Signed in the lower right

Stefano Donadoni was born in Somasca, a hamlet of Vercurago, in the province of Bergamo, in October 1844 to Giovanni, owner of a paper mill, and Isabella Trezzi. His artistic training took place in Bergamo at the school of Andrea Marenzi, a painter who was an academy follower of Ronzoni. Donadoni’s participation - with some success - to the National Exhibition of fine arts in Milan 1881 with three paintings: Bergamo ancient, Il capraro and Il palazzo della Ragione (the location of these works is not known, but according to chroniclers of the time they were all characterized by a great realism; cf. catal., Milan 1881, p. 63). With his wife Angelica Colli and their children Alessandro and Elisabetta, Donadoni moved to Rome around 1882. The artist participated in the Roman exhibition of fine arts of 1883 with three paintings that still had glimpses of his homeland: the Church of S. Salvatore, the Church of S. Maria Maggiore and the Chapel of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Bergamo (cf. catal., Rome 1883, pp. 43, 76). The majority of the works belonging to the vast production of Donadoni are kept in Rome at the Municipal Cabinet of Prints of Palazzo Braschi and at the National Institute for Graphics. In the first of the two institutes is kept a background of about 400 watercolors, all reproducing monuments, architectural details or missing corners of the city - except for the View of S. Rocco in Frascati (inv. M. R. 2963) and the House of the archpriest in Bergamo (inv. M. R. 3157) - and built between 1891 and 1911, years in which there were great changes in the structure of the city.