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The high viewpoint allows the artist to show much of the town of Tivoli near Rome, featuring the famous circular, 1st-century BC Temple of Vesta and the bridge over the thundering falls of the Tiber River. This view, combining a heroic element of nature, antiquity, and the increasingly popular theme of the city, was first defined as an almost iconic image of Italy for northern artists by the great 16th-century Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel.Van Wittel was among the Dutch landscape painters who went to Italy, and he settled there in 1674. His focus on the topography of the landscape and the small size of many of his paintings made his works attractive to tourists as souvenirs of their visit.For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 390, pp. 505-506.