Landscape by Follower of Francesco Zuccarelli

Mellow terracotta tones warm the rocks and buildings that are scattered through this imaginary landscape, culminating in a rosy blush that spreads through the rising clouds. In the shadowy foreground, two weary travellers, a young woman and child, rest by a silvery pool. With their outstretched hands, it appears that they are requesting provisions from the standing woman who seems to reach out to them with food from the basket balanced on her head.

The Italian artist Francesco Zuccarelli (1702-88) was celebrated for his pastoral scenes. Idyllic landscapes that invoked the warm climate of the southern Mediterranean were popular with English collectors in the mid-eighteenth century, especially those who had returned from travelling around Europe on the Grand Tour and hankered for the golden light of the Italian countryside. Encouraged to follow in the footsteps of fellow Venetian artist, Canaletto (1697-1768), and seek patronage from the British aristocracy returning from their cultural travels, Zuccarelli came to England twice during the 1750s and 1760s and became a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. As with other successful artists of the time, his work was much copied or imitated, emulating his well-received formula of a peaceful rural setting populated with vignettes of everyday life.