Italian Landscape with Peasants
Oil Painting
1855 (painted)
1855 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Johann Jacob Frey (1813-1865) was born in Basle where he was first taught by his father, the painter and lithographer Samuel Frey (1785-1836). He later studied in Paris (1830) and in Munich (1834), the most vibrant artistic centre in Germany. After travelling in Italy and Egypt, he settled in Rome where he specialised in landscape painting.
This painting is a fine example of Frey's output. He particularly favoured anecdotic genre scenes set in the Roman countryside where he made frequent excursions. The composition is enlivened by the presence of Italian women, wearing traditional colourful dresses, and the bright sunlight of a summer day. This painting was probably executed in Frey's studio after sketches made in plein-air and costume studies. This work is a good example of the naïve imagery combining landscape and genre scenes that developed during the 19th century in Germanic Europe.
This painting is a fine example of Frey's output. He particularly favoured anecdotic genre scenes set in the Roman countryside where he made frequent excursions. The composition is enlivened by the presence of Italian women, wearing traditional colourful dresses, and the bright sunlight of a summer day. This painting was probably executed in Frey's studio after sketches made in plein-air and costume studies. This work is a good example of the naïve imagery combining landscape and genre scenes that developed during the 19th century in Germanic Europe.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Italian Landscape with Peasants |
| Materials and techniques | Oil on canvas |
| Brief description | Oil painting, 'Italian Landscape with Peasants', Johannes Jakob Frey, Swiss school, 1855 |
| Physical description | Women peasants in the foreground carrying straw, resting and conversing by a lake, with tall trees on each side and a village dominated by a large building in the right background; mountains in the far background under a blue sky. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'J. J. Frey Roma 1855' (Signed and dated by the artist, lower right) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Joshua Dixon |
| Object history | Bequeathed by Joshua Dixon, 1886 Historical significance: After his stay in Munich, which was an important artistic centre in Germany together with the city of Düsseldorf, Frey appeared to be largely influenced by such artists as J.A. Koch (1768-1839) and J.C. Reinhart (1761-1847) who took over the tradition of classical Italianate landscapes in the manner of Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet. The present painting is therefore typical of the following generation of painters who included in their work neo-classical elements combined with a waned Romantic spirit, particularly visible in the taste for distant views. It is possible that the present painting shows the Lake of Nemi, which Frey painted several times from different angles. There is a similar composition dated 1854 exhibited in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, in 1969 and another exhibited in Maltzahn Gallery, London, in 1974. The Kunstmuseum in Basle has a collection of his paintings. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Johann Jacob Frey (1813-1865) was born in Basle where he was first taught by his father, the painter and lithographer Samuel Frey (1785-1836). He later studied in Paris (1830) and in Munich (1834), the most vibrant artistic centre in Germany. After travelling in Italy and Egypt, he settled in Rome where he specialised in landscape painting. This painting is a fine example of Frey's output. He particularly favoured anecdotic genre scenes set in the Roman countryside where he made frequent excursions. The composition is enlivened by the presence of Italian women, wearing traditional colourful dresses, and the bright sunlight of a summer day. This painting was probably executed in Frey's studio after sketches made in plein-air and costume studies. This work is a good example of the naïve imagery combining landscape and genre scenes that developed during the 19th century in Germanic Europe. |
| Bibliographic reference | Kauffmann, C.M., Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 40, cat. no. 87. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1058-1886 |
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| Record created | February 19, 2007 |
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