Views of Rome were in tremendous demand from classically educated foreign visitors who sought souvenirs of the most admired monuments of antiquity. By the mid-1730s Panini had built up a considerable English clientele, including the Duke of Norfolk, the former owner of this pair of paintings. 

Such works often complemented collections of casts and copies after the Antique. Indeed, this capriccio, or imaginary view, includes two of the most famous statues of classical antiquity: the Dying Gaul and the Borghese Warrior. Also depicted are the Colosseum, the Column of Trajan, and the Arch of Septimius Severus.

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