Attributed to Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros (Moudon 1748-1810 Lausanne)

The so-called Villa of Maecenas, which was in fact the ruined Sanctuary of Hercules Victor, was one of the main sights for Grand Tourists at Tivoli. Ducros executed a large watercolour of this subject for Richard Colt Hoare in circa 1786, which is now at Stourhead in Wiltshire (illustrated in Images of the Grand Tour: Louis Ducros 1748-1810, exhib. cat., 1985-6, Kenwood, London, and other locations, no. 69). A later and slightly smaller watercolour version (still larger than the present drawing), probably based on a tracing, is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (inv. D-907; Kenwood 1985-6, no. 21). Ducros is also known to have executed a print of the view, which he mentioned in the catalogue of his print shop, although no impression of that print is known. Both the Stourhead and Lausanne versions differ from the present drawing in their staffage: both of these show nymphs resting beside the cascade, while in the present drawing men in classical costume are seated in the right foreground.