Via Appia Antica with the Tomb of Cecilia Metella

Ernst Fries tested his powers as a landscapist in Italy. At once descriptive and evocative, this expansive view of Rome reflects the young draftsman's encounter with the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, a famous Roman monument on the Via Appia, the ancient road linking the Eternal City to the southeastern part of the peninsula.

Using pencils of different hardness, Fries frequently varied the pressure of his strokes and the direction of the hatching--crossed and parallel lines--to great effect.