A Section of the Via Sacra, Rome (The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian)
ca. 1814–15
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
12 3/8 x 17 1/8 in. (31.4 x 43.5 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Funds, 2012
Accession Number
2012.25
Tags
Art Historical Context
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg often hailed as the father of Danish and a key figure in the Danish Golden Age, captured this intimate view of Rome's Via Sacra around 1814–15. The oil-on-canvas scene depicts a segment of the ancient Sacred Way in the Roman Forum, foregrounding the Church of Saints Cosmas and—a 6th-century basilicaiously built into the ancient Temple of Romulus.ersberg, then in his late twenties and abroad after training in Copenhagen and Paris rendered the sunlit street with architectural precision blending weathered Roman ruins with early Christian grandeur. Eckersberg's neoc...