Piazza di Carpi nell'Estense. Signed "Pietro Gualdi dis: dal vero" and with the date probably added later "1830"

A fine colour watercolour on paper drawn from life, mounted on cardboard and framed, measuring 510x660 mm including the frame. This is probably a variation of an earlier drawing called “Veduta della Piazza di Carpi ripresa dal sagrato della Cattedrale” (‘View of Carpi Square from the Cathedral churchyard'), which was later transposed into a lithograph dedicated to the Bishop of Reggio Emilia, Monsignor Filippo Cattani, dated 1828 (Carpi, Musei del Palazzo dei Pio).

Carpi's square is depicted from the churchyard in front of the cathedral, with a slightly elevated viewpoint that is not perfectly central; this leaves space on the left for the castle, which was formerly owned by the Pio family and extends to today's Piazza Garibaldi.

Pietro Gualdi was an Italian artist, landscape painter, architect and engraver born in Carpi. Known for his detailed urban views, he worked intensively in Mexico City (1838-1851) and later in New Orleans, where he died in 1857, producing famous lithographs of monumental buildings and city scenes, after training as a set designer in Milan (cf. G. Martinelli Braglia, Pietro o Pedro o Peter Gualdi (Carpi, Modena 1808-New Orleans 1857) pittore, incisore, scenografo, in: “Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler”, vol. 64, Munich-Leipzig, 2009, pp. 130-131).

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