This is a view of the ruins of the Temple of Saturn, from the 4th century AD, at the western end of the Roman Forum and at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, with the Arch of Septimius Severus (203 AD) and the church of Santi Luca e Martina in the distance. Piranesi (1720-1778) has shown the ancient Roman structures as they were still in the mid-18th century, unexcavated and buried under many feet of earth, while the mid-17th century Baroque Church in the background is at ground level today.
