A View through Three of the North-Western Arches of the Third Storey of the Coliseum

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg painted A View through Three of the North-Western Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum around 1815, during his Italian years, a work that demonstrates his characteristic interest in the spatial and compositional possibilities of looking through architectural frames toward open landscape. The Colosseum's arched openings frame views of the Roman sky and the suburban landscape beyond, and Eckersberg renders the recession through the arches with the architectural precision and atmospheric clarity of his mature style. The painting is one of the finest examples of the plein air architectural study that he developed during his Italian period.

Eckersberg frames the distant landscape through the precisely rendered arches with characteristic spatial clarity. The warm Roman light filtering through the ancient structure and the careful perspective demonstrate the analytical precision that would define Danish Golden Age painting.