Like the previous lot in this sale, this should probably be dated to about 1816-8, but certainly after Knip's return from Italy in 1812. The composition with a foreground which appears to be a grotto may be compared to that of a bodycolour in a dutch private collection, F. Kuyvenhoven, R. Peters, De Familie Knip, Drie generaties kunstenaars uit Noord-Brabant, exhibition catalogue, Zwolle, 1988, p. 119. That was tentatively attributed to Mattheus Derk Knip (1785-1845), and erroneously described as a view of the Villa d'Este seen from the grotto of Sebilia. In fact the building in its background is the Church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo in Rome, seen from the very same viewpoint as that in Josephus Augustus' drawing sold in these Rooms, 14 November 1988, lot 265, now in the Fondation Custodia, Institut Néerlandais, Paris. This gives reason to attribute that bodycolour to Josephus Augustus completely or at least partly, and strengthens the attribution to him of the present lot. Drs. F. Kuyvenhoven compares this to Knip's signed picture dated 1832 in the Stichting Genootschap Cornelis Ploos van Amstel-Knoef, E. Bergvelt, M van Boven, J.A.Knip 1777-1847, exhibition catalogue, 's Hertogenbosch, 1977, p. 171, no. 106, illustrated, suggesting that it was executed by Knip, possibly assisted by his son August (1819-1861) or his daughter Henriëtte (1783-1842).