Scenes from the caves of Ulysses at Sorrento

Collins's Scenes from the Caves of Ulysses at Sorrento from 1841 represents his engagement with the Italian landscape he encountered during his Italian journey of 1836-38, which provided material he continued to develop for years after his return. The caves associated with Ulysses near Sorrento on the Bay of Naples combined natural grandeur—the dramatic rock formations and sea caves of the Amalfi coast—with classical literary associations that gave the landscape a mythological resonance appealing to educated British collectors. Collins's Italian work demonstrated his ability to adapt his coastal and landscape observation to Mediterranean subjects quite different from the English shores he typically painted, and the Sorrento caves gave him a subject that combined his characteristic naturalist observation with the classical allusion appropriate to Italian subject matter.

The Italian subject demanded a different palette from Collins's English scenes—warmer, more intense, with the strong contrasts of Mediterranean light. The cave setting creates dramatic contrasts between dark interior and brilliant exterior light. Collins adapts his careful observational technique to the unfamiliar Italian landscape with evident effort to capture its distinctive character.