The door of a grotto

ca. 1765–66

Not on view

Marlow made this free watercolor sketch during a trip through France and Italy. Spontaneous brushwork and bright washes evoke strong sunlight playing across stone, contrasted with a shadowed recess covered by a rough wooden door. The artist’s travel likely was supported by the duchess of Northumberland, since Marlow later made many finished oils of Italian subjects for this English patroness. The freshness of the drawing is an early demonstration of watercolor’s expressive potential and anticipates groundbreaking innovations that would be made twenty years later by the British artists Thomas Jones and John Robert Cozens in Rome and Naples.

Artwork Details

Title: The door of a grotto
Artist: William Marlow (British, Southwark, London 1740/41–1813 Twickenham, London)
Date: ca. 1765–66
Medium: Watercolor and graphite
Dimensions: Sheet: 11 in. × 13 1/2 in. (27.9 × 34.3 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Jeffrey L. Berenson and Raymond Lifchez Living Trust Gifts, 2014
Object Number: 2014.147
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By William Marlow

In the same medium

From the same time and place

View of the Lake and the Island from the Lawn at Kew, William Marlow British, Watercolor — View of the Lake and the Island from the Lawn at Kew
William Marlow
Architect Sir William Chambers
1763

Gamba Bow, Wood, British — Gamba Bow
British
first half 18th century

Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd, Caspar David Friedrich German, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite, with white opaque watercolor; partial framing lines in pen and brown-black ink — Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd
Caspar David Friedrich
1805–6

View of the Wilderness at Kew, William Marlow British, Watercolor — View of the Wilderness at Kew
William Marlow
Architect Sir William Chambers
1763

"Royal George" Cello, William Forster British, Spruce, maple, ebony, British — "Royal George" Cello
William Forster
1782

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.