The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 12, 2025
A View of the Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla
1779–81
(Italian, 1750–1825)
Support: 53.3 x 68.6 cm (21 x 27 in.); Matted: 66 x 86 cm (26 x 33 7/8 in.); Image: 50.9 x 65.7 cm (20 1/16 x 25 7/8 in.)
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
The artist Lusieri accompanied the British Lord Elgin to Athens in the late 1790s and participated in the dismantling of the Parthenon’s metope sculptures there, now famously called the Elgin marbles.Description
Lusieri was known among his Grand Tour patrons for his meticulous technique and his originality: for example, his choice of an unusual view of the Baths of Caracalla, as here, taken from within the ancient site. With an astonishing commitment to the truthful depiction of nature and ruins, and an extreme awareness of the nuances of light at different times of day, he depicted the ruins in the late afternoon. The presence of figures emphasizes the massive scale of the ruins in the warm Italian sun in this significantly large, impressive sheet, a welcome souvenir to his patron, an English Lord, when he returned to England.- Philip Yorke, later 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834), commissioned from the artist around 1778-1779; thence by descent at Eastnor Castle, HerefordshireJuly 5, 2022(Christie's, London, England), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OHSeptember 12, 2022-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Lusieri, Giovanni Battista, Aidan Weston-Lewis, Fabrizia Spirito, Kim Sloan, and Dyfri Williams. Expanding Horizons: Giovanni Battista Lusieri and the Panoramic Landscape. 2012. Ill. no. 3
- Expanding Horizons. Giovanni Battista Lusieri and the Panoramic Landscape, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland (June 30-October 28, 2012).
- {{cite web|title=A View of the Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla|url=false|author=Giovanni Battista Lusieri|year=1779–81|access-date=12 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.93