The Palace of Art and Industry: View looking West by Federico Moja, €12,000 (£10,300) at Babuino Casa d’Aste.
It is unsure if Moja, who made his name as a painter of vedute and domestic and ecclesiastical interiors, attended the event in person. He may, instead, have worked from an architectural engraving titled The Palace of Art and Industry: View looking West by WE Hodgkin that appeared at the time in The Builder magazine.
He added in his own details including a spectacular pair of crystal torcheres, banana palms and the crowd of visitors who fill the central and the upper galleries.
However, he erroneously signed and dated the 2ft 6in x 3ft 3in (74 x 99cm) picture 1861, the year before the exhibition (delayed due to the Italian War of Independence and the onset of the American Civil War) was ultimately held.
The painting emerged for sale as part of a sale of Old Masters and 19th century art at Babuino Casa d’Aste in Rome on May 7 where, offered in an elaborate giltwood frame with a coronet, it sold just above estimate for €12,000 (£10,300) plus 25% buyer’s premium.
Like other European nations, Italy was influenced by the showpiece exhibitions of art and industry held in London from 1851. It was following the South Kensington expo that plans for the Industrial Museum of Turin were signed by royal decree in November 1862.
The iron and brick buildings designed by engineer Francis Fowke for the South Kensington exhibition were intended as a permanent structure. However, after Parliament declined the Government’s wish to purchase the building, the materials were sold and used for the construction of Alexandra Palace.
