A View in San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, Rome
c. 1820
Medium
Pen and brown ink and brush and various brown washes on ivory wove paper, edge-mounted to an ivory laid paper inlay
Dimensions
29.5 × 38.8 cm (11 5/8 × 15 5/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
213428
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Hetsch was an influential Danish-German architect and teacher, known for the meticulous technique and the Romantic classicism of his drawings. In 1812 he went to Rome and in 1815 to Copenhagen. This sheet is interesting for its coded commentary: the processing clerics and the women kneeling in prayer before a reliquary altar model religious devotion, but the presence of two beggars on the steps of the church poignantly underscores more earthly concerns.