rozległy widok na opactwo Tre Fontane 1883

This pencil drawing showing a distant view of Tre Fontane Abbey was created by Henryk Siemiradzki in 1883. Born in the Russian Empire to Polish parents, Siemiradzki spent his life as an expatriate artist, mostly in Rome. While he achieved fame and recognition for his large-scale academic paintings depicting scenes from antiquity, this sketch offers a glimpse into his personal artistic practice. The drawing emphasizes the vastness of the Roman Campagna, a landscape with layers of historical and cultural significance. Once the heartland of the Roman Empire, by the 19th century it was largely rural and agricultural. Siemiradzki's choice to depict the Abbey from a distance evokes a sense of longing and perhaps even cultural displacement. The sketch is not just a representation of a place, but also an expression of identity, reflecting the artist's relationship to his cultural heritage and his adopted home. It speaks to the complex interplay between history, identity, and place.