Italian school; beginning of the XVIII century.

Italian school; early 18th century.
"Caprice of classical architecture".
Oil on canvas. Relined from the 19th century.
Measurements: 50 x 90,5 cm; 61,5 x 102 cm (frame).
The work presents an idealized landscape in which stands out a suggestive set of ruins of clear Roman evocation, conceived as signs of a noble and timeless classical past. Behind, almost in the background, stands an equestrian sculpture on a pedestal, reinforcing the monumental and archaeological character of the scene. In the foreground, a careful arrangement of sculptural elements serves as a support and frame for various human figures, organically integrated into the space. These figures present a remarkable typological and temporal variety.
From the stylistic point of view, the oil painting is fully inscribed in the tradition of Italian classicist landscape painting. The genre of the landscape view with ruins or classical monuments, real or invented, enjoyed great success in the Baroque period, having a wide influence in the following centuries.
Italian painting in the 18th century experienced a development of its own, thanks to the large number of architectural remains preserved in the country. The taste for the artistic remains of the past, the generalization of the travels of writers and artists in search of monuments and works of art that served as a source of inspiration, and the discovery of important ancient remains such as those of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum undoubtedly contributed to the success of the genre. It is a pictorial genre, moreover, that has its roots in the seventeenth century, in the veduta, not always topographical, but sometimes extremely imaginative, of artists such as Canaletto and others. These "Veduta" or "Caprice" start from the figurative theme is taken as an excuse for the development of a broad and naturalistic landscape, classicist style, perfectly framed within the classic Italian Baroque landscape. Thus, the figures are small in relation to the scenery, and although they appear in the foreground, clearly visible, they are perfectly integrated within the landscape, which rises as the true protagonist of the work.