PIETRO MARTORANA (fl. c.1750-1800)

THE FALLS OF THE ANIENE AT TIVOLI, WITH THE GROTTA DI NETTUNO
Inscribed verso
Watercolour on laid paper
63 x 42.5 cm
 
 
 
 
 
Pietro Martorana, on whom there is very little documentation, appears to have been a Sicilian artist active in the latter half of the 18th century. He is sometimes identified with an artist of the same name who was born in 1705 and died in 1759, though this seems unlikely on the basis of the style of the present hand, which is more in keeping with the painters catering to Grand Tourists from c.1770 onwards (for example Ducros, Kaisermann or Hackert). There are a small number of Sicilian panoramas by Martorana, but the most closely-comparable examples to ours are those sold at Sotheby's, London, 7-14.01.2021, lot 111.