The Circus Maximus in Rome
Ca. 1638. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
This is one of four depictions of spectacles from ancient Rome that Domenico Gargiulo and Viviano Codazzi painted for the large History of Rome series at the Buen Retiro Palace. Of those four, in which Gargiulo painted the figures and Codazzi the architecture, two more have survived: Perspective of a Roman Amphitheater (P2632) and Perspective of a Gymnasium (P6210). The fourth, now lost, is listed in Charles II’s will (1701) and was probably of a naumachy, or mock sea battle.
As with most of the works in this series, this painting’s date is very uncertain. A late date, between 1639 and 1644, has generally been accepted, as that coincides with other known commissions by G. B. Pisante, prior of the charterhouse of San Martino and intermediary for the Duke of Medina de las Torres in his own purchases of paintings. David R. Marshall was the first to question Pisante’s involvement in this project. He suggested earlier dates, between 1634 and 1638, but this seems too early, especially compared to Gargiulo and Codazzi’s Triumphs. Giancarlo Sestieri seems to have taken a more appropriate approach in his suggestion that these paintings could be from around 1638, and therefore later than those Triumphs.
In recent decades, efforts have been made to establish the existence of a series of paintings related to the History of Rome -including the present work- that Philip IV’s representatives would have commissioned in that city and in Naples around 1634 for the Buen Retiro Palace. Today, twenty-eight extant works can be related to this project (most in the Museo del Prado or Patrimonio Nacional), along with another six mentioned in Charles II’s will but now lost or destroyed. This total of thirty-four paintings constitutes the largest group from the Retiro, including the Hall of Realms. The only larger group consists of mythological scenes that the king’s brother, Cardinal-Infante don Fernando, commissioned Rubens to paint for the Torre de la Parada. The size of the Roman group is the first indication of its importance in the new palace (Text drawn from Úbeda de los Cobos, A. in: El Palacio del Rey Planeta. Felipe IV y el Buen Retiro, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2005, pp. 169-170; 196-199).
