Licenza, near Rome: Horace's Villa
William Havell British
Not on view
After a decade in China and India, Havell returned to England in 1826, visiting Italy two years later with the painter Thomas Uwins. The present drawing is one of two known works made during that sojourn (the other is "Coast Scene, Amalfi," Victoria and Albert Museum). Horace's farm in the Sabine Hills, about thirty miles east of Rome, is an iconic site that influenced later country retreats from Stourhead, Wiltshire to Thoreau's cottage at Walden Pond, and Havell's view takes in the slope of Colle Rotondo from the Licenza River, where the famous villa once stood. A range of watercolor techniques have been used, with reserved paper forming the cumulus clouds, scratching applied to indicate ripples in the water, and touches of gouche for highlights. A barefoot goatherd and his extended flock accentuate the contours of the land, and create a sense of movement.
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