Carlo Labruzzi was primarily a landscape painter, renowned among foreign visitors on the Grand Tour for his views of ancient Rome. This watercolor belongs to a large group of drawings Labruzzi executed while traveling with Sir Richard Colt Hoare of Scotland (1758-1838), a great antiquarian, amateur artist, and famous Grand Tourist. In 1789, Hoare embarked on a journey which followed the ancient Roman Via Appia from Rome to its termination in Brindisi. On this occasion he took Labruzzi as his companion. The artist was asked to draw the remains of classical antiquity along the route, such as the ancient walls of Lavinia depicted here. Hoare's intention was to publish an account of the Via Appia accompanied by a series of engravings after Labruzzi's watercolors, but his project was not fully realized and only the first twenty-four plates were issued in Hoare's lifetime (and at his expense). The first fascicule of twelve plates appeared in 1794 under the title Via Appia illustrate ab urbe Roma ad Capuam.
Inscribed in pen and brown ink with location under image.
Olson, Roberta J. M., former owner.
Johnson, Alexander B. V., former owner.