View of the Garden of the Villa Borghese in Rome

In his view of the gardens of the Villa Borghese, Eckersberg made a section of a dilapidated, unremarkable eighteen-century aqueduct the main subject of his painting. What is more, the classical reliefs seen on the wall are foreshortened to the point of becoming unrecognisable. Eckersberg used the oblique wall to create a sense of depth in the picture, but even so his approach is quite unusual: the aqueduct and the trees in the background completely impede the view. The painting was presumably created in the summer of 1814, around the time when Eckersberg began painting out of doors. The rendition of the sunlit and shaded areas suggests direct, immediate on-site observation. A preliminary drawing for this painting exists, dated 1814 (SMK).