Ponte Molle

While traveling in Rome in 1752, Wilson received a commission from the Earl of Dartmouth for a series of drawings depicting views of the region. This image is one of sixty-eight he completed for the earl over the next two years. Taken from a high vantage point, it depicts the Milvian Bridge (Ponte Molle), with Monte Mario on the right. The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica juts up in the middle distance beyond a bend in the River Tiber. With its crumbling remnants of classical antiquity, like the toppled Ionic capitals littering the foreground, the drawing presents a nostalgic view of Rome, a modern city that was once capital of a vast empire (2022).