Alexander Ivanov, the contemporary of Nikolai Gogol and Karl Brullov, spent a large part of his life in Italy where he also did many sketches for his masterpiece, The Appearance of Christ to the People. Via Appia at Sunset shows the oldest road in Campagna leading towards the barely seen St Peter’s Cathedral; along the road are the tombs of the first Christians. Ivanov called this landscape “historic” in the proper sense of the word.
Alexander Herzen wrote about this part of Italy: “always sad and gloomy, Campagna only once becomes magnificent, and that at sunset, when the land challenges the sea… Who never visited Italy does not know what the colour or light is… This sad Campagna is forever bound to the Roman ruins; they complement each other. Indeed, there is some incredible grandeur in all these stones. It is for a reason that every generation from every corner of the cultured world comes to pay them a homage” (translated from Russian).