View Of The Colosseum - Franz Kaisermann (yverdon, 1765 – Rome, 1833)

Franz Kaisermann, originally from Yverdon, was one of the leading interpreters of the Roman landscape at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Settling in Rome around 1789, he became a pupil and collaborator of the landscape painter Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros, absorbing his luminous sensibility and taste for monumentality. His views, marked by remarkable graphic clarity and a refined use of watercolour, captivated Grand Tour travellers in search of evocative yet faithful images of Roman antiquities.

In this View of the Colosseum, Kaisermann combines topographical precision with pictorial poetry. The monumentality of the amphitheatre is conveyed through a sharp line and carefully calibrated perspective, while chromatic transparencies lend lightness to the architecture. The contrast between the solemnity of the ruins and the vitality of the surrounding nature reflects the Romantic sensibility that gradually enriched his visual language.

This work exemplifies Kaisermann’s ability to transform a topographical record into a true work of art, capable of captivating both the collector and the traveller’s eye.