View of Saint Peter's, Rome

This unusual view of St. Peters’s, Rome, seen from behind rather than the more standard frontal view, was painted by Marlow in 1783, long after he had returned to England from his travels in Italy. A watercolour by the artist of the same view, now in the British Museum probably served as his basis for the oil painting. The viewpoint is taken from the Via Aurelia Antica looking towards the Vatican Walls and the great dome of the Basilica and, in the distance, the dome of San Carlo al Corso.