(Pitigliano 1702–1788 Florence)
Travellers and other figures in a river landscape, a town beyond,
oil on canvas, 105.5 x 150.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
acquired by the father of the present owner, 1985

In this arcadian landscape, crossed by a river, a family is depicted travelling. The father on foot, the mother and children on horseback, accompanied by other animals. A similar landscape, as well as the figurative device of travellers on horseback, can be found in several of Zuccarelli’s works, such as in the Landscape with a Woman fording a Stream on Horseback dated around 1740–44, now in the Royal Collection Trust (inv. no. RCIN 401272).

The present composition is populated by recurring figures in Francesco Zuccarelli’s paintings, for example the water carrier, which is found in other of his works, including A Pastoral Landscape in Warminster (National Trust, Stourhead, inv. no. 732088). Likewise, the crouching woman with child, is another recurring motif in the painter’s production.

Born in Tuscany, Francesco Zuccarelli, initially trained with Paolo Anesi in Florence and then moved to Rome. In around 1713–1714 he became a pupil of Giovanni Maria Morandi and Pietro Nelli. In 1732 Zuccarelli moved to Venice, where he increasingly concentrated on painting arcadian landscapes, which he cultivated in competition with Giuseppe Zais from Belluno, and through which he soon met public success. His landscapes are populated with figurines reminiscent of Claude Lorrain, whose works Zuccarelli had studied in Rome.

As was the case with other contemporary painters active in Veneto, such as Canaletto or Bernardo Bellotto, his paintings were highly appreciated abroad where he was called upon to paint for wealthy patrons, such as Consul Joseph Smith. Zuccarelli worked extensively in England where he influenced important local painters. After five years in London and an initial return to Venice, Zuccarelli moved back to London in 1765, where he was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. Now wealthy and admired by the British public, he returned to Italy in 1773.