Description
Flemish master active in Italy (17th century) – Sermon of St. John the Baptist in a Landscape.
Oil on canvas.
The painting depicts the Sermon of Saint John the Baptist in a wooded landscape, a subject widely favoured in Flemish and Northern painting active in Italy during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The composition centres on the figure of the Precursor standing on a rock, surrounded by a numerous and varied crowd including horsemen, orientalising figures, women and children. The background opens onto architectural ruins and a valley with a body of water, elements characteristic of the Northern landscape tradition as elaborated in an Italianate context. The chromatic palette, the rendering of foliage, and the handling of light are consistent with Flemish pictorial culture filtered through Italian experience, within a tradition ranging from Jan Brueghel the Elder to Pieter van Laer.
Condition report: Relined canvas. Good state of conservation of the painted surface, with signs of ageing and wear.
