The Scottish artist, Jacob More, resided in Italy for twenty years, from 1773 until his sudden death in Rome ‘of a bilious fever’. During this period, More established a reputation as the foremost British landscape painter of his generation: Joshua Reynolds, president of the Royal Academy, called him ‘the best painter of air since Claude’. More was also a dealer in antiquities and works of art, and a garden designer. Just before his death he completed a ‘Panorama of Rome’, which was exhibited at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace).