Ettore Roesler Franz (11 May 1845 – 26 March 1907) was an Italian painter and photographer. He was among the most prolific Italian watercolorists and vedutisti of the late nineteenth century.
Biography
He was born to a family of German ancestry, that had moved to Rome from Sudetenland at the beginning of the 18th century. After attending a Catholic school, he began his artistic studies at the age of eighteen at the Accademia di San Luca.[1]
His best known works are a series now known as "Roma Sparita" (Vanished Rome).[2] It consists of 120 watercolors (roughly 20x30 in.), divided into three sets of forty, and created from 1878 to 1896. They depict parts of Rome that were in danger of disappearing as the city became more urbanized and modern. Many have vanished or changed dramatically, so these works constitute an invaluable historical record.[3][4] He was also one of the first artists to paint scenes in the Roman Ghetto.
^Bruno Brizzi, Roma fine secolo nelle fotografie di Ettore Roesler Franz, Roma, Editore Quasar, 1978
^Carlo Bernoni and Renato Mammucari, Roma Sparita nelle fotografie di Ettore Roesler Franz, Roma, Newton & Compton Editori, 2001
Further reading
Umberto Allemandi (Ed.) Dizionario Enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani dall'XI al XX secolo, Vol.9, Bolaffi
A. M. Comanducci, Dizionario illustrato dei pittori e incisori italiani moderni, Leonilde M. Patuzzi Editore, 1962
Maria Elisa Tittoni, Il Risorgimento a colori: pittori, patrioti e patrioti pittori nella Roma del XIX secolo (exhibition catalogue), Gangemi. ISBN978-88-492-6960-4