Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 82. Franz Ludwig Catel, attributed to Berlin 1778 – 1856 Rome The Ponte Nomentano, the Sabine Hills in the Distance, 1830 The Ponte Nomentano crosses the river Aniene to the northeast of Rome, interrupting an otherwise bare landscape and making it a particularly appealing motif for many painters from Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) to Corot. In this study of the bridge set against the purple Sabine hills, the landscape is rendered in broad, thin areas of paint, and the date of 26 Feb 1830 indicates it was painted quickly before the motif on a winter’s day. It is attributed to the German painter Franz Ludwig Catel who, after studying at the Berlin Academy and in Paris, settled in Rome in 1811 where he spent the rest of his life. A pencil drawing by the artist from 1838 shows the Ponte Nomentano from a different angle, and is preserved in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. He created a charitable and educational foundation for Italian and German artists in Rome, the Pio Instituto Catel, which is still in existence today.
The Ponte Nomentano crosses the river Aniene to the northeast of Rome, interrupting an otherwise bare landscape and making it a particularly appealing motif for many painters from Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) to Corot. In this study of the bridge set against the purple Sabine hills, the landscape is rendered in broad, thin areas of paint, and the date of 26 Feb 1830 indicates it was painted quickly before the motif on a winter’s day. It is attributed to the German painter Franz Ludwig Catel who, after studying at the Berlin Academy and in Paris, settled in Rome in 1811 where he spent the rest of his life. A pencil drawing by the artist from 1838 shows the Ponte Nomentano from a different angle, and is preserved in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. He created a charitable and educational foundation for Italian and German artists in Rome, the Pio Instituto Catel, which is still in existence today.