Focusing on the year 1882, this short book explores a crucial moment in transformation of Rome from a drowsy picturesque town to a modern capital as seen through the paintings of Eilif Peterssen and Christian Skredsvig made in 1882-83. Paintings such as Peterssens Piazza Montanara and Skredsvig’s Monte Aventino emerge as delicate negotiations between inherited visions of a by-gone Rome and the reality of the rapidly expanding city and thus also between established artistic conventions and a new realism.