Landscape with river and resting shepherds

First half of the 18th century

 

oil painting on canvas

cm. 60 x 93, within a carved and gilded wooden frame cm. 75 x 108

This delightful landscape view animated by a family of shepherds who rest from their daily duties should be compared to the hand of Francesco Zuccarelli (Pitigliano 1702 - Florence 1788);

In the landscapes painted by Zuccarelli the world is crystallized, frozen in a moment of idyllic quiet,

where the 'Arcadian' sense of the landscape is rendered with that pictorial vivacity, chromatic lightness and compositional grace that we find in its entirety in his painting.

By way of comparison we can compare our canvas to other compositions, including:

- Landscape with river and resting shepherds, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo:

- Landscape with bridge and horseman, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo:

- 'Landscape with river, village, fisherman and shepherdesses' (Christie's, London May 1960, n.82: http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda.v2.jsp?locale=it&decorator=layout_resp&apply=...)

- Landscape with figures, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo: http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/72451/Zuccarelli%20Francesco%2C%20Paesaggio%20c...

- Landscape with knight and figures, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo: http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/71321/Zuccarelli%20Francesco%2C%20Paesaggio%20c...

Tuscan by origin, Francesco Zuccarelli trained first in Florence with the landscape architect Paolo Anesi and then in Rome with his fellow countryman Giovanni Maria Morandi. It was in Rome that he was able to study excellent models, from the seventeenth-century examples of Gaspard Dughet to the work of the contemporary Andrea Locatelli.

Around 1732 he settled in Venice, where he was influenced by local landscape painters such as Marco Ricci and Giuseppe Zais. In the lagoon city the painter continued his long career, distinguishing himself from local painters for the idyllic tone of his landscapes; in this phase of his painting of him, which inspired our canvas, he focused on paintings with an Arcadian subject; as we can observe in his works the presence of figures always remained predominant, almost a legacy of his early training, where naturalistic backgrounds often constitute the basis for quite idealized episodes of rural life.

The painting is completed by a beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame.

The painting is in excellent condition and is sold complete with a certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law (FIMA).

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