Poor Travellers at the Door of a Capuchin Convent near Vico, Bay of Naples

Poor travelers seek hospitality at a Capuchin convent near Vico on the Bay of Naples in this 1839 painting at Sudley House. Collins encountered such scenes during his Italian travels of 1836-38, when the Mediterranean landscape and Catholic culture provided subjects markedly different from his English specialties. The Capuchin tradition of hospitality to the poor gave Collins a subject that combined his interest in humble figures with the exotic setting of the Italian south.

The Italian convent setting requires a different architectural vocabulary from Collins's English cottages, with Mediterranean stone, classical details, and strong southern light replacing the soft English atmosphere. The figures of the poor travelers maintain Collins's characteristic sympathy for humble subjects. The palette shifts toward the warmer, more intense tones demanded by Italian light.