Giovanni Battista Lusieri

This depiction of the Baths of Caracalla exhibits the remarkable size, precision, and variety of detail that made Giovanni Battista Lusieri’s watercolors prized among late-18th-century Grand Tourists. Potential buyers of this work likely identified with the fashionable spectators in the foreground, who stroll casually through the Renaissance-era formal gardens of the Villa Mattei to observe the ancient Roman ruins nearby. These private gardens had originally been opened for religious pilgrims visiting nearby basilica churches, but by Lusieri’s day the gardens were a social playground for wealthy tourists. Such patrons prized the highly detailed character of this painting, which reinforced and recorded the knowledge they gained as they explored Italy’s historical and artistic treasures.