This view of the garden side of Liechtenstein Palace in Rossau along with its pendant depicting the side view were the result of commissions from Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein. In this picture the viewer looks out from the terrace of the Belvedere, which still existed at the time and was designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, across the splendid gardens to the rear of the palace.

Bellotto’s depiction of the view can be compared with the principles of Baroque stage design. The terrace with the balustrade forms the proscenium on which, to the right, stands Prince Joseph Wenzel with Angelo Soliman, probably Vienna’s most famous moor. Soliman served the Prince after leaving the service of Prince Lobkowitz, who died in 1755.

Between the frame-like sandstone sculptures by Giovanni Giuliani the field of view expands across the “stage”, the richly bejewelled garden parterre with its fountains, statues, grand vases, borders and ornamental shrubbery beds. The palace itself rounds off the view. At the time its Sala Terrena was still open on both sides.

The block-like palace, built in the style of the Roman Baroque, is embedded in the silhouette of the imperial city. Viewers familiar with Vienna will notice on the left the Servitenkirche, the tower of St. Mary’s on the Bank, St. Stephen’s Cathedral and, next to it, the dome of St Peter’s Church. On the right can be seen the tower of the Schwarzspanierkirche and the Strudelhof.

This is the main work of Herman Posthumus. It shows an imaginary landscape full of fragments from classical antiquity, and various men studying them. An intimate knowledge of the archaeological sites in Rome was required for this picture, and they are clearly recognisable.

Murals of the Domus Aurea are to be seen in the foreground, partly buried. They were discovered in 1480 and soon became one of the main attractions for visitors of Rome. Some of the latter immortalised their names on the walls, including that of Hemskerc, and next to it that of Posthumus, Her Postma.

Posthumus had a creative approach to the archaeological material. He combined fragments to build new objects or added missing parts. The imposing, overgrown ruin to the right is a free adaptation of the Mausoleum of Constantia from the fourth century AD, having survived in the church of Santa Constantia, in Rome, practically unscathed. The reason for this modification is explained by Ovid’s inscription. It says, that time, the devourer of all things, and envious age will destroy everything. Posthumus was aware of the threat to the excavated treasures. The men in the painting are seen studying, measuring and drawing the objects. They express the significance Posthumus accorded to artists in the preservation of heritage.

According to the account of the author and philosopher Plutarch (c. 46–120 A.D.), Romulus lured the daughters of the Sabines to Rome. Once there he ordered them to be raped so as to ensure the continued population of the recently founded city.

Ricci’s painting also shows Romulus who is seen demonstratively holding open his purple cloak, the sign for his soldiers to begin their attack. The scaffolding on the building to the right depicts Rome’s unfinished state.

The groups of figures that move past the viewer as if on a stage, show the many possible variations of the same motive, as if in a movement study. The three-dimensional nature of the figures clearly indicates their sculptural antecedents in Ricci’s mind. The central couple, for example, can be traced back to the marble group Pluto and Proserpina (Rome, Galleria Borghese) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

In the foreground lies a white cloth with various fruits. Like a still-life, it symbolises love and fertility as the motivation for the crime. The pendant to this picture, Battle of Romans and Sabines, is also in the Princely Collections.

Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein (1696–1772), regent of his house from 1748, began his successful military career under Prince Eugene of Savoy. His greatest achievement was the reorganisation of the Imperial Artillery, which he realised in his role as Director General of Artillery, to the acclaim of even his opponents.

In addition to his soldierly virtues, his elegant manner and highly developed sense of prestige suggested his appointment as imperial ambassador in Berlin in 1735 and from 1738 to 1741 to the same position in Paris. In 1760 Prince Joseph Wenzel travelled to Parma to arrange the marriage of the later Emperor Joseph II. In 1764 he supervised the election and coronation of Joseph II as Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt.

The Prince is presented in light armour and with a field marshal’s baton. The red velvet, ermine-lined mantle underlines his position. On his breastplate lies the newly-acquired badge of the Golden Fleece.

Joseph Wenzel’s self-confident posture reflects his understanding of the role of prince. In the background a voluminous curtain repeats the silhouette of his prestigious appearance.

This picture combines various buildings to form an imaginary veduta ideata, or ideal landscape. For this work Robert took as his orientation the compositions of the ruin painter Giovanni Paolo Pannini. While Pannini’s vedutas usually combined surviving buildings from ancient Rome, Robert’s picture features a cross section through Rome’s architectural history. Important works from the ancient city, the Renaissance and the Baroque period are brought together in a highly theatrical architectural ensemble.

Robert places the Pantheon as the icon of the ancient world on top of the curved steps of the Ripetta, the port on the Tiber built in 1704 by Alessandro Specchi and featuring two concave cascades of steps around a rounded quay wall. The resulting construction is bordered with a colonnade which recalls Bernini’s design for St. Peter’s. Finally the painter inserts Michelangelo’s Palazzo dei Conservatori at the Campidoglio on the left.

Robert has, however, interpreted the buildings portrayed. The Pantheon, for example, appears without the Baroque addition of the bell towers. The painter has also restored the pilasters around the entire rotunda. Painterly staffage figures populate the stage-like steps and terraces.