A classical wooded landscape near Tivoli, with the Temple of the Sibyl, and young men and sheep by a waterfall; and A classical rocky wooded landscape near Tivoli, with the Villa of Mycenas and men bathing by a waterfall

Locatelli received his first artistic training in the studio of his father, Giovanni Francesco, in the Trastevere, Rome. In 1715, having worked for three little-known painters - Mons Alto, Bernadino Fergioni, and Biagio Puccini - Locatelli was commissioned to decorate a room in the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, the first of several important decorative schemes that he was to execute. However, despite these instances of patronage, it was primarily as a painter of easel pictures that Locatelli made his name. These were sought after not only by distinguished Roman patrons, but also by an international clientele amongst whom he was renowned for his idyllic views of the Campagna.
Though this pair of pictures was sold as by Gaspard Dughet, Busiri Vici, in his catalogue raisonné, states that they 'are nonetheless fine examples of Locatelli's work' (loc. cit., p. 313). He notes in particular that the pictures recall the tradition of Claude Lorrain, especially in the circular temple and trees to the right of the latter painting.