Probably by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 'Staircase in the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli', about 1826

Throughout his career, the French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was inspired by the close observation of nature. He influenced the Impressionists’ approach to landscape painting, in particular through his insistence on painting in the open air. However, he was also a link in a long-standing tradition of open-air oil sketching. He trained in the studios of Achille-Etna Michallon and Jean-Victor Bertin, both of whom advocated oil sketching. In turn, they were influenced by Pierre de Valenciennes, who set out many of the principles of oil sketching in his Elemens de perspective pratique in 1800.

Corot first visited Italy in 1825. He did not return to France until 1828. During this period he produced 200 drawings and 150 oil studies. He became friendly with other French artists in Italy, especially Edouard Bertin, Leon Cogniet and Caruelle d’Aligny. They painted similar scenes, shared theories and techniques, and used their oil sketches to experiment. Few of these sketches were signed. Therefore, attributions cannot always be certain. Although this sketch is signed ‘Corot’ on the lower right, it is also signed ‘Granet’, probably in a more recent hand. François-Marius Granet was a French artist who also travelled in Italy. He visited Rome from 1802 to 1819. His finished oil paintings often feature churches and clergy. There is a drawing by him in a private collection of the same scene. It includes a procession of monks mounting the staircase, although in reality the building was not used as a church.

Tivoli is a town to the north-east of Rome. With its dramatic waterfall it was a popular destination for artists. The Villa of Maecenas was named after the wealthy patron of the Roman poets Horace and Virgil. The ruined state of the building was often contrasted with the supposed wealth of its owner. It was held to be a symbol of the transience of money compared to the lasting impact of the arts. Today it is known that the complex was not a private villa. Rather, it was a temple dedicated to the worship of Hercules the Victor. A number of artists had produced works of the inside of the villa. The most famous is a series of prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Corot’s painting presents a spatially complex but visually satisfying vista from the giant doors on each side of the composition, up the stairs towards the brightness and light coming through the windows at the top. Each architectural section offers a slightly different range of tones and angles, providing us with a varied and fascinating view. It may well have been the contrasts between the light and dark that drew Corot to this scene.