A View of the Colosseum, Rome, with the Esquiline Hill beyond

This undated view of the Colosseum with the Esquiline Hill beyond belongs to a series of Van Wittel compositions that extend the immediate vicinity of the monument into the broader Roman landscape. The Esquiline — one of Rome's seven hills — rises distinctly to the northeast of the Colosseum, and including it in the composition gives the painting a panoramic quality beyond the purely monumental. Van Wittel was unusual among vedutisti in his attention to the relationship between ancient monuments and the topography that surrounded them; where other artists isolated the Colosseum as a free-standing ruin, he consistently placed it within its Roman context of hills, roads, and contemporary buildings. The Esquiline in Van Wittel's time was still partially rural, with vineyards and convents punctuating the ancient ruins, and his inclusion of the hill establishes the semi-rural character of Rome's ancient eastern quarter that visitors from urban northern Europe found remarkable. The canvas's undated status may indicate either a work not yet fully documented or one from which the date has been obscured.

The wider compositional scope of this canvas — incorporating the Esquiline behind the Colosseum — requires Van Wittel to manage an extended recession that he handles through graduated atmospheric lightening of the distant hill. The Colosseum itself is placed to one side rather than centred, which is less common in his work and suggests a deliberate landscape rather than purely monumental intention. The sky accounts for a generous upper portion of the composition.