This watercolur shows a view up the river Arno in Florence, with the church of San Miniato al Monte and the Forte Belvedere visible in the distance. Rushbury’s Italian tour began in Florence, Assisi, Siena and San Gimignano, providing a plethora of subjects for on-the-spot drawings as well as ideas for subsequent work. His wife Florence travelled with him as far as San Gimignano and then returned home, while Rushbury went to Orvieto with the artist Charles Cundall and then to Rome.
Other works in public collections which date from this 1922 trip are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (‘From the Porto Rosso, Florence’, pen and wash 16 1/8 x 10 7/8 ins.); Leeds City Art Galleries (‘Siena’ watercolour 12 1/4 x 18 5/8 ins.) and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (‘Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome’ pencil and wash 12 3/4 x 18 7/8 ins.)
