Landscape Of The Roman Countryside By Léon Berthoud (1822-1892)

Léon Berthoud was a Swiss painter born in the canton of Vaud in French-speaking Switzerland and died in the canton of Neuchâtel.
He studied under Léon Cogniet (1794-1880) in Paris, where he became friends with his elder Camille Corot (1796-1875), who advised and encouraged him.
An admirer of the great 17th-century landscape artist Claude Gellée, known as Le Lorrain (1600-1682), who spent practically his entire life in Italy, it was this artist's landscapes that prompted him to leave for Rome in 1845.
From then on, he divided his time between Italy, Paris, and Switzerland, exhibiting regularly in the major Parisian Salons.
He left a large number of landscapes, both in oil and drawings in pencil, charcoal, and chalk.
Very demanding in his work, he was rarely satisfied with his paintings. He left behind numerous drawn studies and few completed works.
His works are mainly preserved in Switzerland, notably at the Kunstmuseum in Bern, the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, the Museum of Fine Arts in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and the Museum of Art and History in Neuchâtel.

Léon Berthoud's favorite subject remained the countryside surrounding the city of Rome.
This pencil drawing offers us a charming bucolic view of the surroundings of Rome, showing the winding banks of the Tiber animated by goats in the foreground, while a reclining figure contemplates the majestic view offered by St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome in the background and its imposing dome.
The artist's stamp, slightly erased, is present at the bottom left of the drawing.
Beautiful, neat frame.