View from the Villa Mattei (now Villa Celimontana) in Rome, c.1809-c.1812. The Villa Mattei was built on the site of an ancient vineyard on the western slope of the Caelian Hill in the course of the 16th century. When Knip was sojourning in Rome, the park was in a ruinous state. All manner of sometimes partially overgrown architectural fragments lay strewn about the park.