A View through Three Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
During his years in Rome from 1813 to 1816, C.W. Eckersberg painted a large number of pictures of the city’s ancient ruins, particularly the old amphitheatre the Coliseum. He painted many views from the inside of the building, and here he has taken up position on the third storey, painting the view through three arches there.
A keen eye on the details
He observed the details of the scene with great care, depicting every one of them exactly as he saw them. Nevertheless, the overall view is a construct: the artist used the arches to link up three views that are slightly separate in real life to form an all-new, harmonious whole.
