The Tiber with the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome

n morning light, two fashionable young visitors to Rome with their tutor or guide discuss a solemn view along the Tiber River. These privileged youths are surely on the Grand Tour, that experience of Continental culture and life then seen as indispensable for cosmopolitan polish.

On the skyline rises the massive tomb of Roman emperor Hadrian. Transformed into the papal fortress Castel Sant’ Angelo, it became a symbol of Christianity triumphant over pagan antiquity. To the right looms the church of the Florentine community in Rome, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini—started in 1509 but only recently completed when this view was painted. The building’s sharply faceted Renaissance bulk contrasts with such ordinary details as hanging laundry, foreground idlers, and the stained plaster wall that frames the view on the left.

Bernardo Bellotto studied topographical view painting with his uncle, Canaletto, the most celebrated view painter in Europe (see a painting by Canaletto in this gallery). Painted as souvenirs for wealthy tourists, views were often made in sets. Toledo’s canvas was originally paired with one of Castel Sant’ Angelo seen from a different angle, now in the Detroit Institute of Arts.