Print

Horace (active circa 38-9BC) was a Roman poet, the son of a freed slave, who found patronage (through fellow poet Virgil) from Maecenas. Sabine Farm, situated in Italy, just to the northeast of Tivoli was a gift from Maecenas to Horace. The exact location of the farm has always been something of a mystery but that has not stopped there being any number of theories.

There are two instances of the Herschels travelling to Italy in the 19th century one of which in all probability resulted in the aquisition of this print. The first is in the 1820s when John Herschel (Snr) made a number of trips across the continent with friends, mainly from Cambridge, to meet important scientists and carry out experiments. The other was much later, in the 1870s when a number of John's daughters travelled to Italy as part of their education in art.