Antonio Francesco Peruzzini (ancona, 1643 Or 1646 – Milan, 1724), Landscape With Figures

Antonio Francesco Peruzzini (Ancona, 1643 or 1646 – Milan, 1724)

Landscape with Figures

Oil on canvas, 47 x 62 cm

With frame, 58 x 74 cm

Landscape with Figures is a painting by Antonio Francesco Peruzzini, one of the leading figures in landscape painting from the late 17th century through the early decades of the 18th century. The work features a broad and complex composition, dominated by a large tree that frames the scene and draws the viewer’s gaze toward a luminous horizon crossed by fringed clouds. In the foreground, immersed in the shade of the vegetation, small figures of shepherds and wayfarers can be seen, posed in various ways along the riverbank. The compositional structure bears striking similarities to Antonio Francesco Peruzzini’s *Landscape with a Rustic House*, now at Villa Giannettino Luxoro in Genoa, both in terms of the organization of space and the relationship between nature and human presence. Here, too, the human figure is a subordinate element, almost absorbed by the surrounding environment, in accordance with a conception of landscape that prioritizes the expressive power of nature over narrative. The masses of trees, rendered with an energetic, scratchy brushstroke, define deep depressions in the ground, while the trunks are enlivened by small, light touches in the areas struck by light—a recurring feature in Peruzzini’s pictorial vocabulary. The figures, minute and tense, strongly evoke the models of Alessandro Magnasco, so much so that some critics do not rule out his direct involvement, especially in light of Magnasco’s documented presence in Florence beginning in 1703, coinciding with Peruzzini’s arrival. During those same years, the Tuscan city was also home to Marco and Sebastiano Ricci, with whom Peruzzini shares chromatic affinities and a common penchant for vibrant atmospheric effects. The difficulty in distinguishing between the different artists reflects a widespread collaborative practice that characterizes much of the Ancona-born master’s output. From a stylistic standpoint, the painting features elements typical of Peruzzini’s mature phase: clouds with frayed edges, a rapid and incisive brushstroke, a preference for rustic or dilapidated architecture barely hinted at in the background, and a tendency to let settlements fade into the distance. These motifs recur in works dating from the last decade of the seventeenth century to the first decade of the following century, a period to which this painting can also plausibly be assigned, by analogy with works such as *The Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot* and the landscapes created in collaboration with Magnasco. The canvas fits squarely within the output of Peruzzini’s workshop; Peruzzini was a painter who grew up in a family devoted to art and was active in numerous Italian cities, from Rome to Bologna, from Milan to Medici Tuscany. Throughout his career, he frequently collaborated with other artists, entrusting the execution of the figures to specialized painters—a practice that often makes it difficult to attribute specific parts with certainty. This *Landscape with Figures* effectively illustrates this dynamic: a work in which the evocative power of nature, the refined play of light, and the vitality of the human figures merge into a shared artistic language, an expression of a period in painting marked by continuous dialogue among multiple artistic personalities.