A View near Rome (Contorni di Roma, Marino),

Huet traveled extensively in Italy from 1841 to 1843, but he never took up the serene Italian landscape as a subject. By nature a Romantic, he always preferred the moody -- often stormy -- skies of France. In addition to his oils and watercolors, he worked in wood engraving and lithography, notable for his illustrations to the Baron Taylor and Charles Nodier's Voyages pittoresques, published in 1831.
The very detailed pen work in the present drawing is close to Huet's style as a printmaker. It was executed around 1845 just before the marriage of the Duc de Montpensier and Marie-Louise Fernand de Bourbon, and was included in the wedding album presented to the couple by the Orléans Family. It is interesting to note in this connection that Huet was the drawing master of the Duchesse d'Orléans.