This composition derives from the 1776 book Twelve Original Views in Italy, drawn by Richard Wilson etched by Joseph Farington, Rooker &c. &c that Towne used quite widely in his teaching (see FT843, FT851, FT860). This unidentified pupil has copied a version of plate 7, engraved by James Gandon Jr. There are a number of differences between the pupil’s copy and Gandon’s engraving, however. For example, the drawing lacks all figures but the two foreground ones and omits the entire right-hand portion of the composition including the sky effect. It gives greater prominence to the small building to the right of the temple, and introduces a path in the right mid-ground not seen in the engraving. Such extensive reworking of Gandon’s engraving is unlikely to have been the work of an unsteady pupil being taught the compositional basics, but rather of the tutor himself. So it is likely that Towne himself made a version of the print on which this pupil based this drawing. This would also explain the pupil’s imitation of Towne’s wiry pen style, rather than of Gandon’s line. Towne himself is known to have copied from the 1776 book (FT803), no doubt again for the purposes of tuition.