Lot Essay
The Vues de Rome et de ses Environs series was the result of a collaboration between the Swiss artist Louis Ducros and the engraver Giovanni Volpato when Ducros move to Rome and set himself up specialising in painting romantic landscapes, which became much sought after by foreigners on the Grand Tour. Ducros's idea was to create repeat views by the use of a finely etched outline which were to be enhanced with watercolour and gouache, a technique which he must have seen used by artists in his native Switzerland. The enterprise was a great commercial success, especially with the English.