Florence from Bellosguardo

Florence from Bellosguardo was painted in 1863 during Brett's Italian journey and is now in the Tate. The viewpoint from Bellosguardo — a hill to the south of Florence — was a classic prospect favoured by generations of travellers and painters for its panoramic view of the city with the dome of the cathedral prominent among the rooftops and the Arno valley beyond. Brett's version applies his characteristic Pre-Raphaelite exactness to what had typically been treated as a picturesque view, rendering the city's architecture and the surrounding Tuscan landscape with topographic fidelity rather than romantic idealisation. Ruskin had encouraged this kind of patient, humble observation of Italian scenery, and Brett's Florentine paintings are among the most faithfully topographic produced by any British painter of his generation.

Brett uses a clear, warm Mediterranean light that reveals architectural detail across the entire composition. The city's rooftops and monuments are rendered with individual attention rather than impressionistic massing. The Arno valley's pale, dusty greens differ perceptibly from the green Brett used for English or Swiss landscapes.