"Italian Landscape" by Maxim Vorobiev

Maxim Vorobiev (1787–1855) was a St Petersburg landscape painter and teacher: from 1823 he headed the landscape class of the Academy of Arts and trained a whole "Vorobiev school". In 1820, on a government commission, he travelled to Palestine and drew the main places venerated by Christians. In the last years of his life the artist painted mainly Italian views from studies made near Rome and Palermo during his journey of 1844–1846. This 1847 painting belongs to that late period.

In front is a shallow, clear river with a stony bed; on the right, a tall gnarled tree and a rock. On the sunlit middle ground is a grassy area with buildings: a structure with small Gothic arches, towers and ruins. By the ruins and the river are small figures: two women with laundry, a woman in red and a man carrying a sheaf on his head. Further off rise the mountains. Colour clearly divides the picture into three planes: a dark greenish-brown and silvery-grey foreground, a greenish-sandy middle ground, and blue mountains and sky. Oil on canvas.