View of the Villa Lante on the Janiculum in Rome
1782–83
Medium
Brush and watercolor over traces of graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 in. × 14 1/2 in. (25.4 × 36.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.68
Tags
Art Historical Context
John Robert Cozens, a pioneering British watercolorist of the late 18th century, captured the timeless allure of Rome in his *View of the Villa Lante on the Janiculum in Rome* (1782–83). During the era of the Grand Tour, when affluent Europeans journeyed to Italy for cultural enlightenment, Cozens traveled extensively in 1776–79 and again in the early 1780s, sketching architectural gems and landscapes. This intimate sheet (10 × 14½ inches) depicts the Renaissance Villa Lante, perched on Rome's Janiculum Hill, renowned for its terraced gardens and panoramic city vistas—a perfect emblem of class...