A Chapel in the Catacombs

Victor Jean Nicolle's relatively small corpus includes many drawings with views of Italy and Rome. He spent two extended periods of time in Italy, from 1787 to 1798 and again from 1806-1811. It was during either the former or latter period when Nicolle created this sheet featuring a chapel within the catacombs, possibly in Rome. The drawing features a group of figures praying before an altar in an immense, vaulted burial space. A thick application of brown wash creates a sense of darkness, which adds to the solemn nature of the underground chamber. A similar view from within the catacombs, also in pen and brown ink, was sold at Christie's, South Kensington, 2 December 2008, lot 422.