More's Italian landscapes demonstrate a steady development in style, with increasing scale, brilliant colour and dramatic effect. The influence of the French painter Claude, who was working in Rome at the time and whom More admired, is very evident. Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the popes to the south-east of Rome, was built for Urban VIII in the 1630s and remodelled by Bernini in the 1660s. It was a popular subject with artists, and More painted the view on a number of occasions. 

Jacob More, 1740-1796

Jacob More, known as "More of Rome", was the first important Scottish landscape painter, and played a significant role in the development of a Scottish school of painting. He spent the years 1773-93 in Rome, becoming the leading landscape painter of the large contingent of British artists working there. During this period he achieved considerable critical acclaim and financial success. A mark of his high status and influence was his unanimous election in 1781 to Rome's Accademia di San Luca. Another honour was bestowed on him in 1784, when he was invited to place his Self-Portrait in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where it remains to this day.

Born in Edinburgh, More was apprenticed first to a goldsmith and then to a firm of painter-decorators. His masters at the latter were, first, Robert Norie and then Alexander Runciman, both important Scottish painters of the day. At some time during his apprenticships he studied at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh under William Delacour, whose influence can be seen in his early landscapes. He came to prominence in 1771 when he exhibited six of his paintings in London, including his set of three Falls of Clyde.

After spending two years in London, More went to Rome. His Italian landscapes demonstrate a steady development in style, with increasing scale, brilliant colour and dramatic effect. The influence of the French painter Claude, who was working in Rome at the time and whom More admired, is very evident. More had no difficult in attracting commissions for paintings. As his fame increased, so his output expanded. His paintings became larger and more theatrical; depictions of volcanoes erupting spectacularly became particularly popular. It is not surprising that his prodigious output brought a decrease in quality in some of his later work.