View of the Forum in Rome

In 1814 the Roman Forum was still a place for cattle. The ancient paving lay buried under metres of earth and rubble, and Romans called the whole area Campo Vaccino, the cow field. Eckersberg made a careful drawing on the spot, dated 8 June 1814, and painted what he found. Three columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux frame one side, the Senators' palace on the Capitol closes the view, and the Arch of Septimius Severus stands at the edge. Across the open dust ox carts roll, mules rest by the columns and a woman carries a bundle of greens on her head. Near the middle is a fountain with a wide stone basin where the animals drank. Four years later that granite basin was hauled up to the Quirinal Hill, between the ancient statues of the horse tamers.