In addition to being Scotland’s most distinguished portrait painter, Allan Ramsay had serious antiquarian interests. These came to the fore in his second Italian visit of 1754-7, when he began his long quest for the lost villa of the ancient Roman poet and satirist, Horace. At this time, he also produced a series of studies of ruined Roman buildings, including this drawing of the Colosseum, Rome’s main amphitheatre. The drawing is remarkable for its sensitive use of light and shade to evoke the ruined building’s decaying grandeur.