Philip Weilbach, a Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of C. W. Eckersberg p. 223 under “Prospecter fra Rom og Omegn, malede 1813–1816” entitled “Ruinerne af Nervas Forum” (The Ruins of Nerva's Forum).

Emil Hannover, a Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of C. W. Eckersberg no. 141 entitled “Prospekt af Mars Vainqueur, d.v.s Nervas Forum i Rom”.

Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “Fortegnelse over en Samling Malerier, Tegninger og Kobbere”, 1828 no. 159. Here described as follows (in Danish): “The great wall of heavy peperin blocks, which occupies the largest part of the painting, once formed the surrounding wall of Nerva's Forum. The marble columns, over which the bell tower stands, are believed to have belonged to the temple that Trajan had constructed in honour of Nerva.”

Peperin is a volcanic tufa from the Albanian mountains near Rome.

Kunstforeningen, “Udstillingen af C. W. Eckersbergs Malerier”, 1895 cat. no. 82.

Statens Museum for Kunst, “Eckersberg - En smuk løgn” ((The National Gallery of Denmark, “Eckersberg – A Beautiful Lie”), 2016, no. 29 reproduced p. 160 and 204. Here entitled “Muren omkring Augustus' Forum med Mars Ultor-templet og kirken Basilios campanile i Rom”. (The wall around Augustus' Forum with the Mars Ultor Temple and the Campanile of the Church of Basilio in Rome.)

The text for no. 29 in the exhibition catalogue above mentions on p. 204 that the painting is probably painted before Eckersberg began to paint outdoors. He worked with light and shadow in this painting, where a clear contrast can be seen between the shady foreground and the glimpse of sun that falls through the wall's opening.

15 January 1814 C. W. Eckersberg writes in his diary (in Danish): “Finished the view of Mars Vainqueuer.”

Mars Vainqueur means “The Victorious Mars”. The location is also called Mars Ultor and colloquially Nerva's Forum.

Literature: Knud Voss,“Guldalderens malerkunst. Dansk arkitekturmaleri 1800–1850”, 1968, p. 136 and reproduced fig. 34 p. 139. Knud Voss mentions that Constantin Hansen deals with the same location. Presumably, he has learned of the place through Eckersberg. Hansen focuses on the ruins of the pillars with the Corinthian capitals, whereas Eckersberg accentuates the large wall that almost hides the pillars.

Torsten Gunnarsson, “Friluftsmåleri före friluftsmaleriet. Oljestudien i nordiskt landskapsmåleri 1800–1850”, in Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis Ars Suetica 12, 1989 p. 76ff. Here the author mentions that Piranesi had painted the same site before Eckersberg, however, Piranesi did so from a different point of view, and the framing of the subject was also different. A contemporary of Eckersberg, the French painter Francois Marius Granet (1775–1849), also found the place interesting and made a drawing of the motif.

Provenance: Sold 19 January 1825 to Prince Christian, later Christian VIII (together with the painting “A view of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura”, today at the Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen). Merchant Benny M. Goldschmidt. Mrs Alma Goldschmidt, her estate sale: Winkel & Magnussen 257, 1940 no. 10, reproduced p. 14.