The Convent of San Cosimato and the Claudian Aqueduct at Vicovaro near Rome, Italy (illustrated); and Figures by the Temple of Venus at Baia near Naples, Italy

Cornelia Knight was the daughter of Rear-Admiral Sir Joseph and Lady Knight, whose friends included Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92) and Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807). Her father died in 1775 and soon afterwards she moved with her mother to Rome where they remained until the French invaded in 1798. They fled to Naples and befriended Sir William (1731-1803) and Lady Hamilton (1765-1815), and later Lord Nelson (1758-1805). After her mother's death, Knight returned to England by boat with the Hamiltons and Nelson, and in 1805 was appointed Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Charlotte.

Both drawings in the present lot were executed during Knight's stay in Italy, first in Rome, then Naples. The Convent of San Cosimato stands at the narrowest point of the valley of the Aniene, near Vicovaro, about thirty miles east of Rome.