Stormy Weather over the Roman Campagna

In 1828 Blechen went to Italy for a journey that unleashed a flood of new images. His Stormy Weather over the Roman Campagna is boldly, speedily sketched in oil. It shows the ruins of an ancient aqueduct threading its way along the plain, the snowcapped Alban mountains in the background. Shattered, the elevated waterway suggests a Titanic battle between the forces of humanity and nature, with the latter, as usual, the winner. Elongated in format, this view recalls the vistas of seventeenth-century Dutch masters.