"Rome from behind". Notes on Gaspar Van Wittel's vedute of the Tiber far camera aptica

Since hts arrival in rome in 1675, the netherland painter Gaspar van Wittel had been developing an innovative operational methodology broadly based on a masstve use of a camera ottica, which allowed him to compose innovative vedute. The analysis of the preparatory drawings kept at the national library in Rome, demonstrates that most of innovative elements of his paintings - rectangular format, panoramic assemblage, ancillary role of depicted architecture, the tiber as a prtvileged scenario - are closely related to the use of the optical device.