Mountain Pass near Subiaco, Roman States

Painted in 1851, this landscape depicts a mountain pass near Subiaco, a town nestled in the Simbruini Mountains east of Rome in the Papal States. William Havell, a founding member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours, had deep roots in Italian landscape painting, having first traveled to Italy in 1827 with fellow artist Thomas Uwins. He visited Florence, Rome, and Naples, and Italian scenery became a cornerstone of his mature exhibition work at the Royal Academy. The Subiaco region, known for its dramatic rocky gorges, ancient monasteries, and winding mountain roads, was a favored destination for Romantic-era artists seeking the sublime and the picturesque in equal measure. By 1851, Havell — then 69 years old — had long since shifted from watercolor to oils, and critics like the Redgraves praised his oil paintings as 'well-composed and arranged' with 'much excellence.' This late work reflects a lifetime of studying mountain scenery, from his early Welsh sketching trips and years in the Lake District, to his travels through the Indian subcontinent and across the Italian peninsula.