Vanvitelli’s style shows only limited development, although the deterioration of his eyesight - by as early as 1696 he had become known as ‘Gaspare dagli Occhiali’ on account of the thick spectacles he was obliged to wear – must have contributed to the decline in quality of his work in the last decades of his career. While there are a number of depictions of the Colosseum and of the Arch of Titus, Vanvitelli was less interested in ancient Rome than in the modern city, with its squares teeming with people (Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Navona and Piazza San Pietro) and the Tiber seen from various vantage points along its banks. More than half of his oeuvre consists of views of Rome and towns in the Roman Campagna such as Tivoli. By the end of the seventeenth century he had created the repertoire of views of Rome which was to support him in his adopted city for the rest of his career, and which was to have such an influence on his successors.

A variant in tempera on paper is at Holkham Hall, signed, 31 x 49 cm. (B311; exhibited Rome, Chiostro del Bramante, and Venice, Museo Correr, Gaspare Vanvitelli e le origini del vedutismo, 2002–3, no. 62).