Skip to main content
View of Tivoli: The Villa of Maecenas
View of Tivoli: The Villa of Maecenas
View of Tivoli: The Villa of Maecenas

View of Tivoli: The Villa of Maecenas

Maker (French, 1716-1803?)
Daten.d.
MediumGouache on heavy wove paper
DimensionsSheet: 9 1/4 × 14 3/4 in. (23.5 × 37.5 cm)
Framed (under glass): 11 1/2 × 17 1/8 × 3/4 in. (29.2 × 43.5 × 1.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Lucia Woods Lindley
Object number2006.91
Object TypeWorks on Paper
On View
Not on view
Maecenas, the wealthy patron of Horace, Virgil, and other literary figures, had a palatial villa constructed at Tivoli where he could entertain guests during the hot Roman summers. The villa was bequeathed to Octavian (Emperor Augustus) at the death of Maecenas, who had long served as the emperor’s close advisor.

In Lallemand’s depiction, a peasant girl riding a horse and a young shepherd boy walking alongside provide the perfect foil to the grand personage whose name is literally synonymous with "patron of the arts."