In this splendid painting of Rome, the viewer is situated in the Borghese Gardens in Piazzale Napoleone looking down upon the Piazza del Popolo with Castel Sant' Angelo and St. Peter's Basilica visible through the haze. A ceremonial procession wends its way through the square bathed in the radiance of an Italian sunset. In a medium that requires exactitude, Smith displays the precision characteristic of his artistry. His works are "marked by a breadth of effect, firmness of colour, and intricacy of form of a more subtle kind" (The Times 21 March 1887).

This work must have been an exhibition piece due to its size and detail, and might have been commissioned for the Nunnery at Burford, Gloucestershire where it hung for many years.