Francesco Zuccarelli (Pitigliano 1702-1788 Florence)

This exquisite example of Zuccarelli’s Arcadian landscapes evokes the Italian countryside, recalling the artist's birthplace in the spectacular hilltop town of Pitigliano on the Tuscan/Umbrian border. The sun filtered through the gnarled trees at right imparts a delicious coolness to the foreground, where two young peasant women chat by a stream and a boy fishes. Zuccarelli’s subtle, rococo palette and gossamer brushwork convey the warmth, sensuality and natural abundance of the country with a vividness calculated to appeal to the many Grand Tourists who hung his paintings on their walls in memory of their happy days in Italy.