Corot was a tireless traveller of Europe, and a trip to Italy in 1826/27 took him to the Alban Mountains southeast of Rome. It was there that he executed this sketch of Marino in the morning light, with long shadows. With consummate command, the French painter uses regions of light and shade to fashion an image of awe-inspiring grandeur within the limited field of the canvas, seeking no longer to idealize the landscape but to represent it theatrically. With his handling of light, he turned landscapes into spaces of emotion and atmosphere, thus becoming the most prominent exponent of poetic landscape painting in Europe. This small work remained in the artist’s possession until his death.