A Section of the Via Sacra, Rome (The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian)

The Artist: Having won the Great Grand Prize for painting awarded by the Royal Danish Academy in 1809, Eckersberg set out from Copenhagen the following year with Rome as his ultimate destination. He spent three years in Paris along the way, including one year as a pupil of the foremost European painter of the era, Jacques-Louis David. Eckersberg was arguably David's most important foreign follower. Absorbing both his austere Neoclassical idealism and his admonition never to stray from nature, the master's teachings prepared him for Rome as well as his subsequent career as a mentor to younger painters. Eckersberg was to become the most influential figure of the Golden Age of Danish painting. His impact was felt throughout Scandinavia and northern Germany until about 1850.

Eckersberg in Rome: In Rome between 1813 and 1816, Eckersberg produced a series of urban prospects remarkable for their scrupulously simple compositions and saturated hues. These studies were painted in repeated sittings before the motif in order to faithfully reproduce the effects of the Mediterranean sun on architectural ensembles. In June 1814, Eckersberg noted in his diary the purchase of a portable painter’s box and the repair of his camp stool, for use in painting out of doors. On July 23, 1814, the artist wrote to the German-Danish engraver Johan Frederik Clemens (1749–1831): “I intend to make a collection of the most beautiful of the many picturesque parts of Rome and the surrounding area. I have been working on them throughout the spring. I have already almost half a score of small sketches finished, all of which were completed on the spot after nature. I limit myself especially to architectural things.”[1]

The Painting: This frieze-like image depicts the so-called Temple of Romulus, erected after 309, which serves as the vestibule to the larger structure behind it, an early sixth-century church dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian. They are situated between the Temple of Faustina and the Basilica of Constantine, along the Via Sacra in the Roman Forum. Three isolated and self-absorbed figures establish a sense of scale; trees at either side contribute near-symmetry through a touch of nature. The painting is simultaneously a finished picture and, to use the artist’s own term, a “sketch.” It epitomizes the sober yet warm sensibility that set the tone for Scandinavian painting for the next half century. A Section of the Via Sacra bears other hallmarks of Eckersberg’s Roman views: modest dimensions, a deceptively simple composition, and uncompromising faithfulness to naturalistic effect.

The painting was preceded by a drawing (The Met 2012.378), which is inscribed "paa Campo vaccino 1814" and initialed and dated "E. 1815." “Campo Vaccino,” or cow pasture, was the commonly used name for the Roman Forum well into the nineteenth century, an indication of the pastoral state into which the civic center of ancient Rome had lapsed, and a continuing reminder of the shifting lenses through which previous generations romanticized the past. The drawing, executed largely in graphite gone over with brush and brown ink, served as a study for the painting. (For a discussion of the drawing’s role in the process of executing the painting, see Technical Notes below.)

Eckersberg did, in fact, consider his painted Roman views to be finished works of art. He later installed them in the “yellow room” of his apartment, adjacent to his studio in Charlottenborg Palace, seat of the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. There, they proved a revelation to younger contemporaries such as Christen Købke, Constantin Hansen (see The Met 2007.164.4), Fritz Petzholdt (see The Met 2009.400.95), and the Norwegian Johan Christian Dahl (see The Met 2019.167.1).

This was one of the few examples Eckersberg exhibited publicly during his lifetime. In 1828 he showed a View of the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, Formerly the Temple of Antoninus and Faustus, Rome (see fig. 1 above) at the Kunstforeningen, the leading arts society in Copenhagen, as En Del af Via Sacra (Section of the Via Sacra), together with the present work as En anden Del af Via Sacra (Another Section of the Via Sacra).

The essentially topographical subjects of these pictures follow a long tradition of vedute (views) painted by artists active in Rome such as Gaspar Adriaensz. van Wittel, also called Vanvitelli (Dutch 1652/53–1736), who catered to the Grand Tourist trade. However, as depictions of well-known sites that eschew the typical attributes of the Picturesque tradition in favor of a seemingly casual, almost offhand approach to composition, Eckersberg’s paintings suggest an acquaintance with works by established artists working in this vein in Rome at the same moment, above all David’s former pupil François-Marius Granet (1775–1849). Granet’s studio in the monastery of Santa Trinità dei Monti was a stone’s throw away from Eckersberg’s own, at 48, via Sistina, an address he shared with the leading sculptor then in Rome, his friend and compatriot Bertel Thorvaldsen (1790–1844).

Asher Miller 2020

[1] For quotations in this entry and other information, see Philip Conisbee, Kasper Monrad, and Lene Bøh Rønberg, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, 1783–1853, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003, esp. pp. 14, 24 n. 1, pp. 84, 100.

Support: The support is a medium-weight, plainly woven canvas. The painting has an aged canvas lining, which is more finely woven. All tacking edges were retained, and the lined painting was re-stretched on the original four-member keyed stretcher. There are a number of inscriptions and labels on the stretcher:

Top stretcher member inscribed in pencil, partially obscured by paper remains: Ec[kersb]erg 18[13?]–1816 / Hannover nr 192 Via Sacra Romu[lus] og Remus Tempel; right stretcher member (top to bottom): Bruun Rasmussen label, numbered in blue ink: 1009412 / 1 / v / v; inscribed in pencil: Fru Seidelin / Roskilde; numbered in pencil: 12 / 825; bottom stretcher member (left to right): inscribed in pencil: F. C. Jacobsen / Juni 1942 0000X[?]0X[?][?]; paper label inscribed in pen and brown ink (possibly by the artist): Kirken S.S. Cosmo e Damiano / (Romulus's og Remus's Tempel) / pra Forum Romanum i Rom. / Eckersberg pinx.; paper label with blue border inscribed and numbered in pen and brown ink: [?] / 678; left stretcher member, paper label numbered: 47[6 or 8]0 / 7

From the Ground Up—Preparation, Underdrawing, Paint: The canvas was pre-primed with white; this priming, which appears to be oil, is seen on the top and left tacking edges. The right and bottom tacking edge are unprimed.

Extensive underdrawing is visible using infrared reflectography (IRR) (see fig. 2 above).[1] It is likely that there are more light squaring lines which cannot be imaged through the denser paint of the buildings and sky. Squaring lines aided Eckersberg in the transfer of the design from the preparatory study to the canvas, whose surface area is slightly larger than that of the study (The Met 2012.378). Comparison of the study with the underdrawing and the painted surface expands on the artist’s description of his procedure as outlined in his letter to Clemens quoted above, affording a clear and comprehensive view of his creative process.

The composition was underdrawn lightly in a dry, carbon-containing medium, most likely pencil, which was then elaborated and reinforced with a pen and black ink. The architecture was carefully underdrawn with a pen, using a straight edge. Tiles and bricks were underdrawn in great detail and serve in the final image, showing through where the paint layers are thin, as in the bricks around the arched window of the church. In addition to the features of the buildings, most of the lines indicating zones of shadow were underdrawn. In the portal to the temple, the head and wings of the putto in the segmental pediment were underdrawn boldly; decorations on the portal were indicated with some precision at the top, and with increasing freedom further down. The bottoms of the doors were underdrawn with what appear to be small blocks that were drawn but not painted; it is also possible that they represented a pattern at the bottom of curtains rather than doors. Both underdrawn crosses on the roof of the church were adjusted slightly in the painting process. In the foreground, the paths were lightly sketched in but not reinforced with pen. The tree trunks at left and right were indicated with a greater degree of freedom than the buildings, and the foliage, with a few sketchy lines; the greenery on the temple walls was underdrawn more tightly. All the stone blocks in the left mid-ground were carefully underdrawn, closely, but not exactly, following the preliminary drawing. The seated man, also seen in the drawing, was underdrawn. The standing robed figure at the door was not underdrawn and seems to have replaced a figure of the same size with one arm akimbo at the left side of the door that was underdrawn but not painted. Both the underdrawn and painted figures at the door are considerably smaller than the seated man; the scale of the figures is inconsistent. The priest in the right foreground was not underdrawn. The preliminary drawing shows this figure smaller and placed further back in space.

Like the underdrawing, the paint was generally applied carefully but with painterly freedom, especially in the patinated walls of the buildings. The paint covers the white priming completely, but it was applied thinly enough for the priming to add luminosity to the scene. This painting is very much about the depiction of light, and the fall of light and shadow are handled with great attention.

Charlotte Hale 2020

[1] Infrared reflectography was undertaken using an Indigo Systems Merlin near-infrared camera (InGaAs sensor range: 900-1700 nanometers) with a StingRay Optics macro lens optimized for this range, in conjunction with a National Instruments IMAQ PCI-1422 frame grabber card and IRvista 2.51 software.

Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen (from 1853; purchased from the artist by January 5, for 150 Rigsdaler; sold by lottery on January 6, to Seidelin); Overlæge [Consultant] Seidelin, Roskilde (from 1853); Fru Seidelin, Roskilde (in 1898); private collection, Denmark (by 1983–2011; sale, Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen, November 28, 2011, no. 12, to The Met)

Copenhagen. Kunstforeningen. 1828, no. 155 (as "En anden Del af Via Sacra") [see Helsted 1983].

Copenhagen. Charlottenborg Palace. "Sønderjysk Kunstudstilling," August 20–September 9, 1937, no. 85 (as "En Del af Via sacra i Rom," dated 1813–16).

Copenhagen. Thorvaldsens Museum. "C. W. Eckersberg i Rom," December 15, 1983–February 12, 1984, no. 20 (as "Kirken SS. Cosma e Damiano ved Via Sacra," lent by a private collector).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art," January 26–April 16, 2023, no. 76.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. Diary entry. January 5, 1853 [Dagbøger fra perioden 1816–1853, 14 vols., Royal Library, Copenhagen, Ms. Add.1138 4to; excerpt published in 2011 Bruun Rasmussen sale catalogue (see ex-colls)], states that he "visited judge Collin [Jonas Collin, 1776–1861?] this morning and brought him two drawings of the paintings that the Kunstforeningen bought representing Saints Cosmas and Damian and the interior of the Colosseum".

Kunstforeningen i Kjøbenhavn: Dens Historie og Virksomhed fra dens Stiftelse til 1863, Udgivet af Bestyrelsen. Copenhagen, 1864, p. 172, no. 37, calls it "S. Cosmo e Damiano" and states that it was sold by the Kunstforeningen on January 6, 1853, for 150 Rigsdaler, to Overlæge Seidelin.

Th. Lind. Maleren Eckersbergs Levned og Værker. Copenhagen, 1872, p. 222, lists it under "Prospecter fra Rom og Omegn, malede 1813–1816" as "En anden Del af Via Sacra".

Emil Hannover. Maleren C. W. Eckersberg: En Studie i dansk Kunsthistorie. Copenhagen, 1898, p. 338, no. 192, calls it "En anden Del af Via sacra" and dates it 1813–16.

Dyveke Helsted in C. W. Eckersberg i Rom 1813–16. Ed. Dyveke Helsted, Eva Henschen, Bjarne Jørnæs. Exh. cat., Thorvaldsens Museum. Copenhagen, 1983, pp. 98–99, no. 20, ill., dates it 1814(?); notes that the gently curving facade to the right of the church, which belonged to the eighteenth-century Oratorio della Via Crucis, was demolished during excavations in the Via Sacra in the 1870s; notes the existence of the related drawing.

Peter Michael Hornung and Kasper Monrad. C. W. Eckersberg – dansk malerkunsts fader. Copenhagen, 2005, pp. 143–44, ill. (color), call it "Kirken Santi Cosma e Damiano ved Via Sacra," 1814?, in a private collection.

Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art. Ed. Freyda Spira et al. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, p. 204, colorpl. 76.

Karina Lykke Grand. "Snapshots: Nineteenth-Century Danish Artists and Travel." Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art. Ed. Freyda Spira et al. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, p. 79.