Landscape Near Rome

Wallis lived in Italy from 1788 to 1806, where his mastery of idealised landscapes earned him the title ‘the English Poussin’. Trained as a theatre scenery painter, he moved to the continent to study fine art. He also became a noted art dealer, and was accused of collaborating with the French during their occupation of Italy. He followed the controlled, Germanic style of landscape painting then fashionable in Rome, which contrasted with the freer, more poetic style of English artists like Richard Wilson.