Frederick de Moucheron, 'Figures in an Italian Garden', probably 1665-70

This idyllic Italian garden with its elegant figures, classical sculptures and tall, slender Mediterranean trees is a product of Frederick de Moucheron’s imagination. As far as we know he had never visited Italy, but the picture is probably based on drawings and sketches by artists who had.

Dutch garden design at this time was much more formal than what we see in this painting: de Moucheron gives the impression of a tamed area that has been hewn out of a much wilder landscape. It’s a small oasis in a forest of trees, including tall cypresses and a Roman pine. The hillside rises on the right, untamed, behind the garden, and on the left a stone balustrade indicates steps that lead down into a valley.

Two life-sized sculptures of Roman goddesses stand on plinths. One of them wears a toga, its carved folds caught by the evening sun. Between them is an orange tree in a stone tub; below is a stone bath, spilling water on to the ground from a pipe in its side. Further to the left is a fountain and beyond it, just visible among the foliage of the woods, is the upper story of a great house. Perhaps the garden belongs to this house and perhaps the elegant figures have come from there.

The people strolling and sitting near the fountain are dressed in clothes fashionable in Holland in the 1660s. Two young peasant women come running up from where the hillside drops away, their white scarves and aprons sparkling in the sun; one waves across to two aristocratic men who idle at the foot of the sculptures. One of the men points at them while looking at his companion. A third man leans over the stone bath, displaying his splendid bright blue breeches and stockings. We don‘t know what story this tells – but part of the delight in owning the picture would have been in interpreting and reinterpreting what was going on.

The figures in the painting are the work of Adriaen van de Velde, who frequently painted figures for de Moucheron, and show minute detail of costume, character and activity that brings the atmospheric background to life. At the time it was common for one artist to paint figures for another, not just in Holland but in other European countries as well – it didn’t diminish the quality or value of the painting, but enhanced it.