Ponte Umberto I, Roma Diana Armfield
Diana Armfield and Bernard Dunstan travelled to various parts of Europe regularly, particularly enjoying (as so many of us do) the sunshine of the South and the historic beauty of some of the great cities, especially Venice and Rome. And, with this picture, in 1978, we are in the centre of Rome, on the River Tiber and close to the Vatican City.
Somewhat disconcertingly, the back of this little canvas board is clearly marked, ‘Ponte Umberto I Roma, 1978’. This suggested to me - and, perhaps, to others looking intently at this picture - that the prominent bridge slicing across the picture plane is, indeed, the Ponte Umberto I. But it is not. The fact is that the image - wonderfully captured in an array of lilacs, rusts, blues and greens - is taken from the three-arched Ponte Umberto I, towards one of the oldest bridges in Rome, the five-arched Ponte Sant’Angelo, and, beyond, St. Peter’s Basilica. The picture is nothing less than a cornucopia of some of the most fascinating and historically consequential structures in Rome.
The Ponte Sant’Angelo is, at its heart, a Roman bridge, the three central arches being completed in the 2nd century AD by Emperor Hadrian, whose mausoleum, at Castel Sant’Angelo, lies on the north bank of the Tiber. From the 4th century, it provided the link to Old St. Peter’s Basilica, built by Constantine the Great. This, of course, was replaced during the Renaissance, the dome which dominates this picture being built to the design of Michelangelo and completed in the late 16th century. Only at the end of the 19th century were the two outer arches of the bridge built, echoing the Roman design and replacing the earlier ramps.
The muted tones, the soft reflections in the river, the hectic sky, against which the dome’s silhouette stands out, all suggests an evening picture. But there is more. This was a time when Rome was attracting greater crowds of tourists; it was also a time of unemployment and political tensions. In Armfield’s picture - compressed in the small space of this little painting - one can read complex layers of meaning. In the turbulent brushstrokes of the sky and the busy reflections in the water, one feels an uneasy awareness of contemporary unrest; in the delicate composition of colours, the dominance of St. Peter’s and the firm horizontal line of the ancient bridge, we grasp something of the ultimate durability of the ‘eternal city’.
14.5cms x 23cms
25cms x 33.5cms