梅塞纳斯的别墅，蒂沃利

The composition of this view, and that of its companion, Hadrian's Villa , is more modest than many of Wilson’s larger Tivoli paintings. Nevertheless, it incorporates a similar intellectual message in its theme of the destruction of past glories through time and neglect. The villa was believed to have been the residence of Maecenas, ambassador of the Emperor Augustus and most renowned of all Roman patrons of the arts. He was seen as the personification of decadent luxury. The ruins of his villa therefore embodied both a high point of classical civilisation and the cause of its collapse. Wilson’s view of the crumbling building thus held a moral lesson for the viewer.