Ponte Nomentano

This is one of sixty-eight drawings of landscapes commissioned from Wilson by William Legge, second Earl of Dartmouth, showing views in and around Rome.  The present drawing, ‘No. 20’ in the series, depicts the Ponte Nomentano, three miles northeast of Rome,  which carries the Via Nomentana across the river Aniene (Anio). Today it looks exactly as depicted by Wilson: even the house on the right survives. In making these records of specific locations around Rome, Wilson swiftly developed one of his most important skills, the creation of a coherent and evocative composition in front of an accurately recorded scene.