While living in Italy between 1847 and 1849, Jasper Francis Cropsey visited the hill town of Narni, north of Rome, where he was based. Cropsey painted this picture nearly three decades later from memory, presumably from sketches made on this early journey. The early journey remained signficant for Cropsey--it was during that visit that Crospey learned of the untimely death of Thomas Cole. Like many of his works after this time, Ruins at Narni reflects the pervasive influence of the older painter, embodying the grandeur and decay of remote Antiquity, while quoting the composition from Cole’s Italian Scenery. Cropsey emphasized the juxtaposition of ruins and notations of contemporary life.