When Knip painted this landscape, he relied on sketches he had drawn in Italy. The result: Italy in a nutshell. The Gulf of Naples, with the island of Ischia and the volcano Epomeo in the distance, is combined with several Roman monuments: the ruins of the Colosseum (left), Nero’s aqueduct and the church of SS Quattro Coronati. The motif of the capital to the right, near the two men, derives from a sketch by Knip.