Roman Forum with the Arch of Septimius Severus

Throughout his career James Kerr-Lawson was a frequent visitor to Italy, particularly between 1903-06 when he completed a series of Italian murals for Stoke Rochford Hall, a stately home in Lincolnshire. He often chose unusual viewpoints of well-known landmarks. In this painting he has deliberately included a building covered in scaffolding in the background. Such depictions of construction and restoration are common within his work. These allowed him to show ancient sites within a Rome under transformation. In this work he has also included the Arch of Septimius Severus (203 AD) and the 17th century church of Santi Luca e Martina to remind viewers of the area’s lengthy history.

Royal Holloway and Bedford New College Art Collections. Acquired in the merger with Bedford College, 1985 (P0996)