An Italian Landscape by Herman van Swanevelt

A soft, low morning light edges into this landscape, sweeping across the foreground rocky outcrop, the curving tree trunk, the golden path and the hilltop town. Against the natural greens and sand-coloured hues, strong reds and blues pick out the morning travellers, the child’s staff dragging on the ground as they trudge forward. Framed between the trees, the river curves out of sight, flowing towards a distant landscape.

The Flemish artist Herman van Swanevelt (c.1604-55) was a formative figure in the development of the Italianate landscape genre. He perfected his style alongside the French landscape artist Claude Lorrain (1600-82), with whom he shared lodgings in Rome. Their landscape paintings combined atmospheric effects with warm, harmonious colours set in the recognisable Roman campagna (countryside). Van Swanevelt spent twelve years in Rome before moving to Paris, where he continued to produce works such as this, recalling the light and terrain of the southern Mediterranean. In 1644, he became Painter to the King of France, living and working in Paris until his death.