Francesco Zuccarelli (Pitigliano 1702 - Florence 1788) - River landscape with shepherds and livestock.
31 x 46 cm without frame, 47.5 x 57 cm with frame.
Tempera on paper, in gilded wooden frame.
- The painting is attributed with certainty to Francesco Zuccarelli (Pitigliano 1702 - Florence 1788) based on stylistic comparisons.
Condition report: Excellent condition of the paper support and the painted surface. The painting is protected by an original 18th-19th century blown glass plate. Please note that the protective glass will be shipped disassembled and separate from the painting in order to avoid damage to the work during shipping. Our gallery does not assume responsibility for any breakage of the glass during transport.
Francesco Zuccarelli (Pitigliano 1702 – Florence 1788) was one of the greatest landscape painters of the 18th century in Italy. His unique style became famous in Italy and abroad, where the most refined collectors purchased his now unmistakable idyllic landscapes. He studied in Florence and later in Rome, where he mainly dabbled in sacred and historical painting, but his fortune began when he moved to Venice, where he turned to the genre of the Arcadian landscape. Among his main clients was the famous consul Joseph Smith, through whom he became one of the most appreciated artists in England, accumulating a great fortune.
Zuccarelli's landscapes do not represent nature in a realistic or detailed way, but rather as an idyllic place flooded with serenity and light. His Rococo-inspired style emphasizes grace and elegance while maintaining a certain simplicity in the representation, avoiding the excessive ornamentation typical of the period. In fact, his paintings evoke a sense of peace and tranquility thanks to the use of harmonious compositions, a clear perspective and a well-balanced arrangement of hills, trees and waterways. The colors are often soft and nuanced, with a warm light that helps create a welcoming and luminous atmosphere.
In our painting we find a unique iconography in the Master's production, which places a mysterious knight covered by a red cloak in the center of the landscape and two other characters on horseback following him. They are placed in an idealized hilly landscape, where Zuccarelli places some of his typical elements such as the stream flowing between the rocks, the vegetation with almost evanescent fronds and the village with the small church in the background.