View of the Tiber

Victor Jean Nicolle

before 1789 · Pen and ink with watercolor washes on paper · Robert Lehman Collection

Victor-Jean Nicolle was sent to Italy by Louis XVI to record various views of Rome and other parts of the country. This he did to exacting detail in Rome, Naples, and Venice. The Tiber view looks across the River toward the Palazzo Farnese and the Palazzo Falconieri. Raking light illuminates the palaces and churches in the distance. Nicolle recorded his urban panoramas with the verisimilitude of a camera some fifty years before the invention of photography.

Artist

Victor Jean Nicolle

Date

before 1789

Medium

Pen and ink with watercolor washes on paper

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975