Rainy Night in Rome

Sir Muirhead Bone was a Scottish printmaker and watercolor artist noted for his depictions of architectural subjects, city views, landscapes, and his work as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars. He visited Italy from 1910-12. In this street scene, Bone features a horse-drawn cab (carriage) with its driver sheltered beneath an umbrella parked beneath the light of a gas lantern in front of the grand facade of the Church of San Rocco, located at the intersection of Via Schiavoria and via di Ripetta, Rome. At the lower right of the scene, a priest holding an umbrella and other pedestrians walk in the shadows. At left, one notes another building, which is on the opposite bank of the River Tiber. Bone dramatically rendered the overall scene to convey dark night shadows, with lower part of the church facade highlighted by the lantern's light. In the upper left quadrant of the image, Bone drew a dense network of lines to capture the black ink to evoke a dark rainy night sky. This print ranks among Bone's most famous works.