David Roberts R.A. 1796-1864

David Roberts had visited Northern Italy in 1851, staying ni Venice for five weeks.  He was keen to return to Italy and visit Rome, in particular St Peter's.  In  September 1853, he left England for Rome.  He met the Haghe brothers in Paris and together they travelled south by train as far as Chalon-sur-Saone, thence by boat down the Saone to Lyons, then by train to Avignon and Arles where they stopped to sketch, from thence to Nimes, Arles, Marseilles, Toulon, Nice and then by diligence to Genoa, boat to Leghorn, and train to Pisa and Forence, staying at both for some days to sketch.  By 18th October they were in Rome where they spent the winter.  Roberts made numerous pencil and watercolour sketches of buildings, ruins and views, as well as oil studies.  He left Rome at the end of January, a short while after completing the present watercolour, and went south to Salerno and then to Naples, visiting Pompeii, Salerno and Paestum, and returning via Lyons and Paris to England.

The ancient Ponte Nomentano, crossing the river Aniene, has a medieval watch-tower