Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, 'Cow-Shed and Houses on the Palatine Hill', about 1782-4
On loan: Gere Collection Paintings to the Ashmolean (2024 - 2026), The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, UK About the work
Overview
The houses and the long, open cow-shed stand in front of a grander, ancient Roman arcade erected in the second century by Septimius Severus. Brilliant sunlight falls from upper right onto the façade of the house, and dapples the roof of the shed. Valenciennes captures the complicated play of bands of lighter and darker shadows under the eaves of the shed and on the ground in the forecourt. He made a similar pen-and-wash drawing of the same scene inscribed 'à la villa neron' (at Nero's villa) in one of his sketchbooks, now in the Louvre, Paris.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Cow-Shed and Houses on the Palatine Hill
- Artist
- Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes
- Artist dates
- 1750 - 1819
- Date made
- about 1782-4
- Medium and support
- Oil on paper laid on canvas
- Dimensions
- 23.1 × 37.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery
- Inventory number
- L870
- Location
- On loan: Gere Collection Paintings to the Ashmolean (2024 - 2026), The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, UK
- Image copyright
- The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery, © Private collection 2000. Used by permission
- Collection
- Main Collection
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.
