Vedder was a very successful painter, illustrator and decorator in his time. Born in lower Manhattan of Dutch parents in 1836, he lived his long life mostly in Italy. When he died in 1923 he was buried in the non-Catholic cemetery in Testaccio.

His paintings the major body of his work were symbolical visions nicely fitting the Victorian taste of the time were bought up like hot cakes in New York, but later he was largely forgotten. Here, in a show of smaller and plainer landscapes from real views, you can see why. Though he was a decent enough practitioner of his mtier, he entirely lacked the sparkle of the Macchiaioli, the Tuscan daubers he hung out with in the Caf Michelangelo in Florence at the turn of the century. His American contemporaries were not unlike him, busy painstaking men, neither stimulated nor stimulating.

The show is housed on the top floor of a remarkable building living quarters and atelier filled with the heroic sculptures produced by Hendrick C. Andersen, given by his descendants to the Italian state. In their posturing pompousness and size they remind you of the now anonymous sculptures gracing Parisian railroad stations and parks, even of Soviet propaganda monuments. Museo Hendrick C. Andersen, Via P.S. Mancini 20, tel. 063219089.