The Gate at Albano
was executed during Inness’ second trip to Italy between 1870 and 1874. Inness
first traveled to Italy two decades earlier and was convinced by Boston-based
dealer Williams & Everett to return because Italian scenes were more saleable
to Europhilic tastes that permeated the American art market. This five-year
period in the 1870s resulted in the most prolific period of the artist’s career.

Newly unified, Italy strove to modernize during the
1870s. Similar to American predecessor Thomas Cole, Inness was disapproving of
industrialization and opted to reminisce over peaceful, pastoral landscapes
rather than capturing technological advancements and urbanization. American
artists’ conservatism further concentrated them to the countryside, instead of
practicing in more public settings.

Like Corot and Cole, Inness spent time in the Alban
Hills, 15 miles southeast of Rome. The area was an appreciated summer retreat
from stifling Rome since ancient times, boasting magnificent natural landmarks,
such as Lake Nemi, Lake Albano, and Monte Cavo, in addition to Roman ruins. On
the locale, in 1828, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “situated on a
gentle hill, surrounded for miles with beautiful forest scenery…and the interchange
of hill and vale – of woodland and cultivated fields, reminds me more of New
England than anything I have seen on the continent.” In 1836, Cole added “He
who stands on Mont Albano and looks down on ancient Rome, has his mind peopled
with the gigantic associations of the storied past.”

In Gate at Albano, Inness chose to carefully detail
the landscape from the hills downwards toward the Mediterranean Sea. Inness
expert Dr. Michael Quick writes, “Although this landscape is of the size Inness
customarily used for his field sketches, it is a fully developed and highly
finished studio painting. The gates are not recognizable, and it is unlikely
that such a strongly structured arrangement existed. The line of ocean
indicates that the painting is meant to be a view from the Alban Hills, as the
traditional titled indicates. The unusually high degree of finish, typical of
Inness's cabinet-sized paintings, confuses a stylistic comparison with larger,
dated paintings, but the full range of light and shade and the development of
light shapes both suggest a date of about 1872."

Upon his return to the United States, he was saluted
as the father of a new and original school in the Boston Daily in 1875. Over
a century later, in 1984, art critic John Russell of The New York Times wrote
“As is made clear in the Findlay show, he could tackle French landscape
subjects hallowed by others (Monet's famous cliffs at Etretat, for instance)
while remaining completely himself. He could also take the classic elements of
Italian landscape and give them just a touch of American accent (see ''Gate at
Albano'').” The painting was also positively reviewed in The Washington Post
in 1986.