Turpin de Crissé’s view from the Roman Forum was probably painted partly in the studio. Yet it retains the character of plein-air (open-air) painting, with its colour and its sharp light, which brings out the individual textures of the different stones. The artist was a member of an aristocratic family ruined by the French Revolution. Thanks to the patronage of the Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier he was able to study art, and he went to Rome in 1807.