Artwork
Landscape with Peasants at a Fountain
Landscape with Peasants at a Fountain is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Francesco Zuccarelli. It dates from 1755 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a work of genre painting, it illustrates everyday life among peasants rather than a specific historical or mythological narrative.
The painting depicts a rural scene centered on a fountain, populated by figures including a woman, set within a broader landscape. As a work of genre painting, it illustrates everyday life among peasants rather than a specific historical or mythological narrative. The composition integrates these human elements into a pastoral environment, characteristic of the landscape genre.
The fountain serves as a focal point for the gathering of figures, suggesting themes of communal daily activity and rural existence. The scene represents an idealized view of country life, focusing on the interaction between people and their natural surroundings.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, a medium characteristic of Zuccarelli’s mid-eighteenth-century Venetian practice. The support measures 79.4 cm in height by 120.7 cm in width, consistent with large-scale Italianate landscape formats designed for private or institutional display. Handling reveals a smooth, blended application in the sky and distant foliage, while passages such as the peasant figures and fountain detail show a more deliberate, linear precision in modeling and edge definition.
The composition balances atmospheric recession with crisp, almost decorative clarity in the foreground elements, reflecting Zuccarelli’s synthesis of Venetian colorism and Dutch topographical clarity. Formal qualities include a gently curving path leading the eye toward the fountain, where light accents define both the water’s play and the peasant’s garments, reinforcing a harmonious, idealized rural scene.
History & Provenance
Francesco Zuccarelli's 1755 oil painting, Landscape with Peasants at a Fountain, is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The work, executed on canvas, measures 79.4 cm in height and 120.7 cm in width. While the specific accession number is not detailed in the available records, the painting is cataloged under the museum's holdings as a significant landscape genre piece depicting a woman and a fountain.
The artwork was created on January 1, 1755. No specific exhibition history or loan records are provided in the source material, limiting the historical account to its current institutional location and physical dimensions.
Overview
Created in 1755 by Francesco Zuccarelli, Landscape with Peasants at a Fountain is an oil painting that exemplifies the artist's characteristic tranquil scenes. This work, now housed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, depicts a serene countryside setting where human activity harmonizes with the natural environment. Zuccarelli was a prominent Italian landscape painter, active during the late Baroque and Rococo periods.
Context
Francesco Zuccarelli was a leading exponent of landscape painting during the late Baroque and Rococo eras, celebrated for his idyllic Arcadian visions. While his primary base of operation was Venice, his artistic reputation extended significantly to England. He cultivated substantial patronage there, leading him to reside in the country for considerable periods, influencing the taste for pastoral landscapes among British collectors.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giacomo Francesco Zuccarelli (commonly known as Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian pronunciation:; 15 August 1702 – 30 December 1788) was an Italian artist of the late Baroque or Rococo period.
