Blick von der Villa Malta auf Sankt Peter,

The series is completed with this view of St. Peter's. At the point of balance between topographical clarity and the rendering of light, the descriptive concentration is on the bright, yellow-gold glow. Dillis' possessions also included a wash drawing of a fourth view to the northeast looking over the villa's gardens with Mount Soracte in the background; this was never completed as an oil study. Dillis' oil studies hold a special position in the context of Roman views by German artists. As a result of the dialectical exchange between the transitory elements and the urban topography, they are comparable with French developments in plein air painting of the same time. They thus hold a significant position in the coming to terms with the city as official representation and private, artistic execution. The stabilization of the known and turning to the fleeting and momentary are two of the ways with which the Eternal City was dealt during the time of Goethe.