The dome of the Basilica in Rome at night

By revisiting my vacation album of photos taken during my trip to Italy last August, I came across the one taken 100 meters East of the Bridge of the Archangels, on the opposite side of the Castle, at dawn, fifteen minutes after Sunset. I was mesmerized by the scene back then, as I remember, and can recall that feeling of seeing the Dome at a distance, illuminated by many artificial lights, as well as the color of the sky. That is the painting’s focus.

I did two sketch paintings of the scene and a drawing in between because I wasn’t happy with the perspective in the first one. Unfortunately, I was halfway through painting the first one when I realized that the Cupola of the Dome was distorted, and it appeared to be too close to the observer from the perspective I was trying to convey.

Here are the two paintings to compare.

As my own critique, I can detect some serious mistakes with the second sketch.

The background vegetation could have been worked less by painting fewer tree forms in a single dark tone.

I should have ignored the actual downward slope of the river embankment, visible in front of the buildings, because it does not help with the perspective at all. It is confusing.

There are too many hard edges in the midground.