George Inness

Although this painting resembles several views of the Roman countryside George Inness created during his 1870–1874 period abroad, it dates to 1875, after the artist’s return to the United States. This work is therefore a “souvenir,” guided by sketches done on-site, and is primarily about the memory of a mood rather than topography. Shepherds, sheep, half-buried stone arches, and the distant cluster of trees are compositional elements that the artist could arrange and adjust, with the grand façade of the Church of St. John Lateran faintly suggested on the horizon. The result is an image that emphasizes the vast, open expanse of the Campagna as a space for spiritual reflection, with the suggestion of its layers of history in the dark underground caverns in the left foreground.