École italienne

This picture was painted between 1655 and 1657, during the artist’s second visit to France. In fact, it is the frescoes and easel paintings produced for the apartments of Anne of Austria in the Petite Galerie du Louvre, and dating from this period, that offer most in terms of comparison with this painting: the same composition with a few figures against a serene, luminous landscape, the frieze-like presentation, the style and elegant colours, the gently interplay of light and shade, the great fluidity of the lines and transitional elements, and the pale colours.

These works, in their tendency towards to idealisation, to a classical, measured style, reflect how the contemporary French painting of Eustache Le Sueur and Laurent de La Hyrthe influenced this pupil of Pierre de Cortone.