Francesco Zuccarelli (Italian, 1702-1788) Landscape with ruins, mid-1740's Oil on canvas 31-1/8 x 37-1/8 inches (79.1 x 94.3 cm) PROVENANCE: Private collection, Northbrook, Illinois. Francesco Zuccarelli was born in Florence, but moved to Venice about 1730, at which point he began to specialize in landscape painting. He produced a large body of work and enjoyed much fame, even more so when he transferred to England in 1752, where he remained for ten years. His stylistic development is difficult to trace, despite the many works, signed or otherwise, by his hand. This painting's setting is carefully arranged, from the mountainous backdrop (suggestive of the region northwest of Venice), to the town in the middle plane, to a stretch of shore on the left screened by delicately rendered trees and, beyond, a glimpse of the setting sun. Here the influence of Claude Lorrain is apparent. The foreground features two gatherings of sheep and cows, each led by a herdsman (a man just in front of the ruin at right, and a woman in the front), passing by a stream. Here the figures, animals and the play of light are suggestive of such features in the work of the seventeenth-century Dutch painter of Italianate scenes, Nicolaes Berchem. As this affinity became apparent in Zuccarelli's paintings of the mid-1740s (see Shearer West, "Zuccarelli, Francesco," in The Dictionary of Art, London, 1996, vol. 33, p. 714), the present painting can be dated to about the same time. HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

Private collection, Northbrook, Illinois.

Strip-lined along extreme edges. Condition report available upon request.
Framed Dimensions 39 X 48 Inches