View of the Basilica of Constantine from the Palatine, Rome

Charles Rémond

ca. 1822–25 · Oil on paper, laid down on canvas · European Paintings

For the present work, Rémond—who had been awarded the 1821 Prix de Rome in the category of historical landscape painting—set up his easel on the Palatine Hill, overlooking the Forum. Depictions of this ancient site were abundant, but Rémond set his apart by including only the rightmost of the three remaining vaults of the fourth-century Basilica of Constantine. With its controlled symmetry and free but assured brushwork, this view combines the careful composition of a finished painting with the sketchy finish of a plein-air study.

Artist

Charles Rémond

Date

ca. 1822–25

Medium

Oil on paper, laid down on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

The Whitney Collection, Promised Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003