Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome

The painting - together with three other similar representations - was commissioned by the Duc de Choiseul, the French ambassador to the Vatican. He is depicted seated in the centre of an imaginary art gallery, surrounded by sculptures by Michelangelo and Bernini. On the walls views of Rome are hanging.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 19 minutes): Modest Mussorgsky: Picture from an Exhibition, arr. by Maurice Ravel (excerpts)