(Dijon 1716–1803 Paris)
Ruins with travellers in a storm,
signed, lower centre: lalman,
oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private European collection

Exhibited:
Washington D.C., Osuna Gallery / New York, Shepherd Gallery Associates, The pleasure of ruins: Viviano Codazzi and his legacy, November – December 1985 / January – February 1986, cat. no. 24 (as Jean Baptiste Lallemand)

Literature:
S. Pepper, The pleasure of ruins: Viviano Codazzi and his legacy, exhibition catalogue, Washington DC 1985, cat. no. 24 (as Jean Baptiste Lallemand)

This work represents a view with idealised architecture inspired by the Mediterranean landscape typical of Jean Baptiste Lallemand. The painting is dominated on the right by an imposing classical ruin with columns and arches, perhaps a temple, with a statue of Bacchus still standing. This idyllic landscape is unsettled by the imminent arrival of a storm from the left. The grey clouds and bolts of lightning come closer, shaking the trees and even casting a passer-by from his horse in the foreground, while other figures hurry to take shelter.

The Mediterranean landscape was among the preferred themes of Lallemand and his depiction was influenced by Claude-Joseph Vernet, whom Lallemand met during his sojourn in Italy. After training in Paris where he became a member of the Académie de Saint-Luc, Lallemand moved to Rome in 1747 where he remained until the early years of the 1760s; during this time he also travelled to Naples. The Italianate landscape remained a part of his repertoire even after his return to France, where he continued to produce similar themes including capricci, ideal landscapes and real views of Rome and Naples. Lallemand also painted views of France.

The phonetic transcription of his name (‘Lalman’) used here as his signature, corresponds with the form Lallemand used in Italy. The present painting may be compared to others works by Lallemand such as the Capriccio of the Roman Forum with the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and the Capriccio of the Roman Forum with the Temple of Saturn in a private collection in Poland (see G. Sestieri, Il Capriccio architettonico in Italia nel XVII e XVIII secolo, Rome 2015, p. 259, cat. nos. 8–9).