View of the Belvedere, Rome, with travellers and donkeys in the foreground

Enlivened by figures and animals, this unusual view of the Vatican focuses on the area surrounding the Vatican’s walls, with the monumental exedra of the Cortile della Pigna just visible at upper left. The sheet is one of a number of drawings representing Rome, the Vatican, Tivoli, the Roman campagna, Bologna, and various other places in Italy, Austria and Germany (Wedde, op. cit., I, nos. D2-D52, II, ill.). They must all relate to the artist’s trip to Italy in 1694-1697, and some are assumed to have been made from life, including the present example, judging by the use of chalk instead of pen and its relatively loose technique. Few works by Moucheron can be dated earlier (for one, see S. Alsteens and H. Buijs, Paysages de France dessinés par Lambert Doomer et les artistes hollandais et flamands des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, Paris, 2008, no. 108, ill.), and the drawings made in Italy are among the first works fully to display the refinement of his mature style.