Arch of Titus (painting)

It depicts the Arch of Titus in Rome, with the Colosseum in the background, and includes portraits of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his daughter Edith, and the three artists.

George Peter Alexander Healy, a portrait artist, was living in Italy during the time that he collaborated on The Arch of Titus.

After opening his own portrait studio at the age of eighteen, Healy realized that he did not have the professional skills necessary in order for him to reach his fullest potential as an artist.

Because of this, in 1834, he went to Paris to study with artist Antoine Jean Gros at the École des Beaux-Arts, one of the most influential art schools in France.

By the mid-1840s, Healy's reputation had begun to grow and he began painting portrait for prominent figures such as Lewis Cass, the American minister to France and Louis-Phillipe, king of the French.

Throughout all his paintings, his sitters are always represented in a pleasant manner and evoked a certain sense of calmness, which is seen true in The Arch of Titus (Fink).

Church encountered the work of Alexander von Humboldt, a naturalist and explorer, who encouraged artists to travel and paint in South America.