Some of the ruins in this carefully composed arrangement are recognisable such as the Colosseum, Rome. Such architectural capricci were especially popular with collectors in seventeenth century Rome and the tradition of painting such ruins continued well into the eighteenth century, culminating the work of Pannini. Although Lemaire sometimes collaborated with Nicolas Poussin, there is no such evidence in this picture as the figures are by a different hand. Lemaire was admired by Félibien and also by the seventeenth century German biographer Joachim von Sandrart (c1609-1688). The artist was virtually forgotten in the eighteenth century but his name appears frequently in early nineteenth century sale catalogues often under the soubriquet Lemaire-Poussin.

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