Frederick de Moucheron, 'A Landscape with Classical Ruins', about 1660
About the work
Overview
Frederick de Moucheron was one of a number of seventeenth-century Dutch artists who specialised in painting idyllic scenes of people with their animals among the antique ruins of the Campagna (the countryside around Rome).
Here, a woman sits upright, holding a baby, while a man with his back to us points towards a sunlit tower overlooking the distant valley. Neither of them seems to notice the rather adventurous dog exploring the fallen masonry under the columns.
The ruins tower over the people beneath them. The columns are painted very slightly off centre, leaning almost imperceptibly to one side – it’s enough to be unsettling, especially with the tomb-like blocks overhead that look in danger of falling. The ruins appear to suggest the grandeur of an almost-vanished civilisation; life in their shadow continues calm and serene, untouched by the glories of the past.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Landscape with Classical Ruins
- Artist
- Frederick de Moucheron
- Artist dates
- 1633 - 1686
- Date made
- about 1660
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 71 × 65.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Richard W. Cooper, 1892
- Inventory number
- NG1352
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.