The striking Moroccan-style ‘Red House’ was built by American colonel John Clay MacKown in 1876. Constructed around a 16th-century defensive tower, the building houses an eclectic collection of 19th-century paintings, including some evocative scenes of Capri by Gonsalvo Carelli (1818–1900), and by French painter Eduard Alexandre Sain, who ably captures the island's spirit in works such as Wedding in Capri . Also here is a colossal 1st-century Roman statue discovered during excavations of the Blue Grotto in the early 19th century.
