It depicts a view of the
Colosseum in
Rome viewed from the
Palatine Hill which along with the
Roman Forum was known at the time as the Campo Vaccino, due to its use as an enclosure for
cattle brought for the city's markets. The rural surroundings of the
Ancient Roman landscape are emphasised in Eastlake's painting. The same year Eastlake also produced another work entitled
The Colosseum from the Esquiline. Since the success of his 1815 painting
Napoleon on the Bellerophon, Eastlake had been living in
Italy producing a mixture of landscapes and genre paintings of local life. He was known for working outdoors in the heat of high summer. Eastlake sent the painting back to appear at the
Royal Academy of Art's
Summer Exhibition of 1823 at
Somerset House. Today is in the collection of the
Tate Britain in
Pimlico, having been acquired in 1964. ==References==