PONTHUS-CINIER Antoine-Claude
(Lyon, 1812 – Lyon, 1885)
 
Villa d’Este in Tivoli

Oil on canvas mounted on canvas
Studio stamp bottom left 
31 x 22 cm  

Provenance:  
  
Number 39 of the catalogue of the sale after the artist’s death, Lyon, room No. 2 of the auction house, 23/28 March 1885  
Ponthus-Cinier belongs to what could be defined as the third (and so to speak last) generation of neoclassical or historical landscapers, born in the 1810s/1820s, such as Félix Lanoue, Achille Benouville, Paul Flandrin, Eugène Ferdinand Buttura and Alfred de Curzon. More specifically, he is considered the main and most popular representative of the landscapers of the Lyon school around the middle of the 19th century.Of a generous, honest personality, and pleasant company, Ponthus-Cinier came from a family of merchants on his mother's side and magistrates on his father's side; destined for commerce by his parents, he preferred the artistic path, and after enrolling at the Lyon School of Fine Arts in 1829, and training in Paris with Paul Delaroche, he exhibited his first works at the Lyon Salon of 1839, before participating in the Paris Salon in 1841. That same year, he received the second Prix de Rome for historical landscape (won by Buttura in 1837, and Benouville in 1845), beaten by the Versaillais Félix-Hippolyte Lanoue. To improve his skills, Ponthus-Cinier then decided to go to Italy, alone and at his own expense, for a single stay between 1842 and 1844; he discovered the Ligurian coast, Tuscany, Naples, and of course Rome and its surroundings, and produced a considerable number of studies (painted sketches or pen sketches) which he used to compose views of Italy throughout his career.Ponthus-Cinier's main qualities probably lie in "the art of illuminating a canvas" as A. Jouve wrote in the 19th century, and in his sense of perspective, which were sometimes truly extraordinary; on the other hand, he seems, most of the time, a little less brilliant in the figures and in the transcription of details. As for the style of his brown wash drawings, highlighted with white, but in fairly dark tones, it is recognizable among all. Tivoli, located about thirty kilometers from Rome, is home to the Villa d'Este, a jewel of Italian architecture which was built by Ligorio at the end of the 16th century for Cardinal Hippolyte II d'Este (of the Borgia family); the buildings, but especially the gardens, offering a multitude of fountains, ponds, grottoes, terraces, are legendary.In the first half of the 19th century, the site was very degraded, a consequence of its progressive abandonment since the middle of the 18th century; it was only in 1851, under the impetus of Gustave de Hohenlohe, that the villa was restored and acquired the status of a major cultural site, with for example frequent stays by Franz Liszt. After the First World War, the place became the property of the Italian state, which took charge of the rest of the rehabilitation. The point of view adopted by Ponthus-Cinier is that of the visitor who had just entered the gardens of the villa through a gate opening onto the road to Rome, a few dozen meters before the entrance gate to the city of Tivoli. The alley framed by monumental cypresses, with a long perspective on a north/south axis, leads to the palace located on high ground; we can thus recognize, from bottom to top, the Dragons' Fountain located above the steps, the shell of the Bicchierone Fountain, and the large loggia built on two levels.The view, one of the most iconic for the representation of the site, but here more "open" because slightly shifted to the right, allows us to place the cypresses in the center of the composition and to visualize the arch located at the end of the Vialone terrace. It is, in particular, very close to an oil on panel (41 x 30 cm) by William Collins (1788-1847) executed around 1837 and kept at the Victoria & Albert Museum, an oil (46 x 32 cm) from 1841 by Edward Lear (1812-1888), a watercolour by Achille Benouville (1815-1891) dated 1861 as well as an oil (40 x 32 cm) by the same Benouville dated 1868. We also know of watercolours of this view by Robert-Henry Cheney (1801-1866), Thomas Cromek (1809-1873) and Charles Vacher (1818-1883), produced in a less neo-classical vein; A little later, the Italian Ettore Roesler Franz (1845-1907) produced numerous representations of the Villa d'Este.
 
It is difficult to date our painting with certainty, since Ponthus-Cinier produced “Italian” subjects until his death and stylistically the work could correspond to the 1840s as well as the 1860s (cf. Benouville); however, the small format and the incredible restitution of Italian light could suggest a painted study made in situ, and therefore during the Italian stay of 1842-1844.Three works made up number 39 of the sale of the Ponthus-Cinier collection, all of the same size, and bearing the following titles, each as vague as the other, according to a frequent habit in sale catalogues: Temple at Tivoli, Landscape, Trees and temple. Our painting would rather correspond to the first or third lot.