It’s easy to understand why plein air landscape painting first took off in Rome in the late 18th century. Visiting artists and Grand Tourists alike, keen to escape the sweltering heat, and plagues, in the city, journeyed out to beauty spots in the surrounding hills for fresher air and a spot of ‘scene painting’ – capturing famous views with more or less skill for their travel diaries and sketchbooks (no cameras or iPhones then). Such scenes were often crowded and convivial, attracting painters from every corner of Europe – and not just in summer. Would that we could flock there too, now that the dark days of winter are drawing in, and art classes are closed by Covid restrictions. Many of us have been forced by our own plague to amuse ourselves outdoors in this chilly season – so why not paint