Neureuther visited Rome in 1837 and planned to paint a cycle of frescoes with views of the city on his return to Germany. This watercolour was painted in connection with that project and takes the form of mural decoration, with an idealised view of St Peter¿s framed by subsidiary scenes and grotesques. According to the historian Ferdinand Gregorovius, the Villa Malta on the Pincio hill was a place full of `German memories¿. Goethe planted a palm tree in the gardens, and many illustrious German travellers, including the scholar and diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt, stayed there. In 1827 Ludwig I of Bavaria purchased the villa as his Roman residence and hailed it in a couplet: `Wie werth bist du mir, liebes Asyl, wo endlich den Menschen / Findet der König auf¿s neu¿, welchen daheim er verlor!¿ (How dear to me you are, treasured sanctuary, where the king discovers anew the man he lost at home!)