During the last period of the defense of Rome, Guillaume Kandler and Karl Christian Andreae produced views of the city later printed by Joseph Spithöver, who was a point of reference for German artists ideologically close to retrogressive and clerical positions. The etching Vue panoramique du siège de Rome, dessiné d'après nature et gravé en eau forte is made by Kandler in June 1849 from the Belvedere of Villa Pamphili. The choice to relegate the focal points of the fighting to the background derived from the type of view used. The drawing, it was emphasized, had been made on site during the month of June and then etched by the same artist later.
Kandler arrived in Rome in 1843 and was introduced to the Vatican Curia thanks to the Austrian ambassador, Count Lützow, who was his patron. He frequented the German Painters' Circle, which was then aligned with the more reactionary side of Roman society at the time.
Also published by Joseph Spithöver was another panorama Vue de Rome, prise du Palais Cafarelli [sic] au haut du Mont Capitolin dans le mois de Juin en 1849 pendant son siège dessiné d’après nature par C. Andreae, which offered a point of view that was opposite and complementary to Kandler’s. Andreae’s view was realized also in June of 1849 from the Palazzo Caffarelli on the Capitoline Hill and published as an engraving. On the right is printed a small map of the part of the city depicted in the view. The breaches in the walls that had been made by the French troops are marked. Some specimens are characterized by the addition of an even more detailed map, realized by Luigi Pullini and also printed by Spithöver, not only showing the French trenches and artillery, but also a table with detailed data about the bombardments.
A further overview was published in London by William Little as a supplement to the Illustrated London News of May 4th, 1850. Drawn from life by the English painter and illustrator George Housman Thomas and engraved by Walter Mason, this view of the city, entitled Rome MDCCCXLIX, depicts Rome from the Vatican to the Giardino dei Semplici and Villa Spada. The point of capture is Villa Savorelli, which had been Garibaldi's headquarters. On the left, against the backdrop of the ruins of the Vascello are depicted some groups of civilians, clergymen, and French soldiers with fixed bayonets. The soldiers, including some who are smoking, appear to be talking to two clergymen; a little further on are two women and a man in traditional dress. One of the women touches a cannon with her hand. In the center are depicted figures, probably artists, conversing among themselves, one of whom has a portfolio under his arm; on the right a clergyman points out the town to two French officers. It is interesting to note that the Villa Spada is depicted as being intact, with no sign of the cannon blows that had struck it during the siege.
Joined to the engraving was an explanatory table with the numbering of the city's main monuments drawn in outline and with news about the fighting.
(Maria Pia Critelli)