The Protestant Cemetery in Rome was the final resting place for especially Germans, British, Russians and Scandinavians. In Thorvaldsen’s day there were, by orders of the Pope, no crosses in this cemetery. And some of the columns on the graves were also sometimes despoiled by visitors to the numerous mean inns nearby. On the far left of this print there is a gravestone on which the name of the German-born painter Asmus Jacob Carstens (1754-1798) can be seen. Carstens was a great inspiration to Thorvaldsen and one of the first with whom he established a friendship on arriving in Rome in 1797.
Part way inside the cemetery at the Porta San Paolo stands the Cestius Pyramid, built for the suffect consul Gajus Cestius, who died in 12 BC. The pyramid was inspired by Egyptian monuments after the Emperor Augustus (63 -14 BC) had won the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, thus beating Marcus Antonius (82-30 BC) and his wife Cleopatra (69-30 BC) and conquering Egypt.
XII. / W.F. Gmelin ad nat. del. et sculp. / Veduta del luogo sepolcrale per gli'Acattolici, / presso la Piramide di Cajo Cestio in Roma. / In Roma presso l'Autore
