Architectural Capriccio with monuments of Rome

On either side of a long piazza, Salucci has placed a series of buildings reminiscent of ancient and modern Rome, bathed in a warm evening light that creates an evocative play of shadows. On the right are the easily recognizable lines of the Pantheon, Palazzo Farnese, the Arch of Septimus Severus, St. Peter’s, the Torre delle Milizie and Castel Sant’Angelo. On the left are the Arch of Constantine, the Dioscuri on the Quirinal Hill, the ruins of the Temple of Concord, the Colosseum and the buildings of the Campidoglio. At the centre of the painting are the Fountain of Four Rivers at Piazza Navona, Trajan’s Column and the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.
In the lower left-hand corner, a group of people marvel at fragments of the Colossus of Constantine, preserved in the courtyard of Palazzo dei Conservatori. Most of these figures, and others in the painting, are ordinary people, evoking everyday life in one of the squares of Rome. It is this element that points to the influence which the Bamboccianti exerted on Salucci. In fact, during his sojourn in Rome, the artist developed a close friendship with the Dutch painter Jan Miel and with Michelangelo Cerquozzi, often collaborating with them. The type of cityscape depicted here anticipates the work of the eighteenth-century painter Giovanni Paolo Panini.