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Signed lower left
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 29¾ x 40¼ in (75.5 x 102 cm)
Framed: 38½ x 48½ in (98 x 123 cm)
Isaac de Moucheron (Amsterdam 1667-1744), the son and pupil of Frederik de Moucheron (1633-1686), was, like his father, a successful painter, draughtsman, etcher, architect and landscape architect. He visited Italy from about 1695 to 1697, where he studied the works of Gaspar Dughet and other landscape artists working in the tradition of Nicholas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. He was in Bologna and also visited Rome, where he made numerous drawings of the city. One of the highlights of Moucheron's stay in Italy was his experience of the Villa d'Este in Tivoli and the splendid Renaissance garden with its fountains, flights of steps and pavilions. This masterpiece of scenographic and decorative fantasy shaped his visual thinking for the rest of his career.
After returning to Amsterdam he specialised in Italian views, popularising Arcadian landscapes and idealised gardens and parks with prominent buildings in the classical tradition. In Amsterdam he quickly made a career as a painter of large wall panels for the decoration of patrician houses and as a designer of facades and gardens. He and Jacob de Wit were the leading and most sought after decorative painters active in the Netherlands between 1720 and 1740. Their clientele was drawn from the wealthy bourgeoisie in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands. While most of Moucheron's paintings appear to have been lost, many of his drawings are preserved in public and private collections.
The present painting depicts an imaginary classical Renaissance garden, a place of timeless grace and beauty. The fountain in the centre is surmounted by a sculpted group of two men struggling to overpower a dragon and flanked at its base by two river gods. In the foreground the view is framed by two marble vases, one in the shade and the other in bright sunlight, both inspired by the famous Borghese vase. The column and the palace to the left are counterbalanced by the group of trees on the right. An Italian landscape bathed in warm evening light extends towards the distant hills.