Provenance
Lord Brownlow (not stamped, not in Lugt) (according to inscription on recto of secondary support). [Somerville and Simpson, London]
Accession Number
1984.57
Medium
pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk
Dimensions
Sheet: 35.7 x 46.3 cm (14 1/16 x 18 1/4 in.); Secondary Support: 45.5 x 59.9 cm (17 15/16 x 23 9/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Delia E. Holden Fund
Tags
Drawing Baroque (1600–1750) Ink Italian
Background & Context
Background Story
Landscape with a River and Aqueduct from the mid 1600s is an etching by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606-1680), known as Il Bolognese, one of the most accomplished landscape painters and printmakers of the Italian Baroque. The etching depicts a landscape with a river and an aqueduct in the atmospheric, elegantly composed manner that distinguishes Grimaldi's best work from the more general landscape printmaking of his contemporaries. The mid 1600s date places this in Grimaldi's most productive period, when he was producing the atmospheric, elegantly composed landscape etchings that influenced the development of landscape printmaking across Europe.
Cultural Impact
Landscape with a River and Aqueduct is important in the history of landscape printmaking because it demonstrates the atmospheric, elegantly composed manner that Grimaldi (Il Bolognese) brought to landscape etching as one of the most accomplished landscape printmakers of the Italian Baroque. Grimaldi's atmospheric, elegantly composed landscape etchings—influencing the development of landscape printmaking across Europe—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in Italian Baroque printmaking, and the mid 1600s etching shows this tradition at its most atmospheric.
Why It Matters
Landscape with a River and Aqueduct is Grimaldi's atmospheric Italian landscape etching: a river and aqueduct rendered in the elegantly composed manner of one of the most accomplished landscape printmakers of the Italian Baroque. The mid 1600s etching shows the atmospheric effect and elegant composition that influenced landscape printmaking across Europe.
