The Age of Pleasure and Enlightenment European art of the ...

Jean-Baptiste de RoyFlemish, 1759–1839Landscape with Cattle and Cottage, 1796Oil on panelGift of Mr. and Mrs. James Lippincott Goodwin, 1963.2Jean-Baptiste de RoyFlemish, 1759–1839Landscape with Cattle Crossing a Bridge, 1796Oil on panelGift of Mr. and Mrs. James Lippincott Goodwin, 1963.3Jean-Baptiste de Roy, called de Roy of Brussels, was a self-taught painter and etcher specializingin landscapes and pictures of animals. When quite young he went to Holland with his father.While there he studied the Dutch landscape painters of the seventeenth century, who hadsignificantly raised the landscape from mere setting to the subject matter. It was also there thathe created these charming and idyllic views of the Dutch countryside.Giovanni Antonio Canal, called CanalettoItalian, Venetian, 1697–1768Landscape with Ruins, c. 1721–22Oil on canvasThe Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1939.290This architectural fantasy, Landscape with Ruins is part of a larger group of imaginary viewpaintings, called capriccio, that have been attributed to the young Canaletto. The capricciocombined invented and/or real architectural features, intact or ruined, in a picturesque setting. Itwas one of the more popular types of painting during the era of the Grand Tour of Europe, whenthere was a heavy demand for pictorial souvenirs. In Italy, where there were countless reallocations with Classical ruins, artists only had to use poetic license to combine and elaborate onexisting monuments, and place them within an idyllic setting.